Merlynn's Destiny
by Jay-magic- G
Summary: AU where Merlynn is the prince's servant and Arthur starts seeing her in a different light after finding out she has magic. Gwen has just realized the powers she possess, and begins to question her loyalty to Camelot, to a ruthless King.
1. Gut feeling

After so many near misses with hiding her magic from Arthur, Merlynn finally decided to tell him the truth something no one seems to approve of; not her mum, or Guais or Kilgharrah. Her life was full of too many secrets that could get her killed; whether it was because she was a witch or because she has fallen in love with Arthur was just a flip of the coin. Uther was going to execute her for both if he ever found out about either of these secrets.

No one could understand why she wanted to tell him the truth, she couldn't understand it herself, but she knew if she didn't and he found out she would have ruined a great friendship. Plus unlike everyone else she was choosing to have faith in Arthur; she was sure he won't execute her... she hoped and something was telling her that she should tell him the truth sooner rather than later.  
And when her gut told her to do something, no matter how stupid that thing was she did it. She had learnt the hard way what ignoring it could lead to and there was no way Arthur was every going to end up like Will. Not if she could help, it was her destiny to protect Arthur; to save him so they could unite Albion... he couldn't end up dead.

If her gut was telling her she needed to tell him the truth to save his life, even if it ends hers, so be it.

:::x:::

Traipsing through the woods she wondered why she ever suggested a hunting trip to Arthur, just the two of them. This was one of the stupidest things she's every done, not only did everyone know she hated hunting but Arthur won't have to wait till the get to town to kill her. He could just say it was a hunting accident gone wrong. Probably blame it on her too.

"Merlynn will you _stop_ stepping on every stick you find you are scaring away any animal within a hundred feet!" Arthur turned around to hiss at her. Again. "Hurry up Merlynn I would like to find a decent place to camp out preferable before the sun goes down completely"

"Well we would have been here earlier if someone didn't insist that I clean out the stables just before me left" she shot back. God the idiot was insufferable.

"How is that my fault? Some of us have a kingdom to manage, knights to train, laws to write and I still managed to be ready on time"

"Yes and some of us don't have servants to draw them a bath every morning, polish thier shoes, make thier bed, get thier breakfast, wash thier clothes and follow them around"

"Yes that is true, all I have is someone who is constantly late every morning, who cannot do the simplest of task without moaning as if the word has come to an end and who **lies** to me" Arthur dropped the bow and arrows on the forest floor and stalked up to her making her back step in to a tree.

"Arthur, I -"

"Are you two still fighting?" Gwaine shouted out as he stepped through the clearing with the other knights. Surveying the scene he realised that they had interrupted something important.

Ignoring everyone one else Arthur stalked of again leaving everyone else to follow.

:::x:::

They had spent the rest of the afternoon, the evening _and_ this morning in extreme silence, Merlynn even managed not to trip, fall or step on a branch which was a miracle in itself. The knights were all feeling uneasy being there.  
They had realised that Arthur and Merlynn's relationship had began to sour the last few months but this was something else. This made all of them uncomfortable.  
They had thought Merlynn had suggested this trip to resolve whatever has been going on but if anything, the hunting trip had made things ten times worse.

Lancelot was especially happy to see the gate of Camelot just over the hill, in fact they all were. Each and every one of them eager to escape the awkwardness of the previous day.

"Go ahead we will catch up" Arthur spoke causing them to freeze on their horses. These were the first words _anyone_ had spoken since they had stumbled upon the little scence yesterday.  
Merlynn was shifting uncomfortable in her seat but nodded her head allowing the others to leave this seemed to incense Arthur all the more so they slowly took off back to Camelot.

Once he was sure that the knights were out of hearing distance he rounded on the browned her little _witch_ sitting next to him. He had so many things to say, to ask, to scream at her that it was hard to choose which one to use.  
"I was going to tell you" Merlynn muttered looking straight ahead as if speaking to the wind. "I had planned on telling you for some time now... I just didn't know _how_ to. I mean is not like I can just come out and say it, you would have had me executed"

"What makes you think I still won't?" Arthur snipped back. He saw the way her body had stiffened, as if every cell was on alert. "What makes you believe I trust a single word that comes out of your mouth? You have lied to _me_ for **years. **Merlynn the faithful and loyal servant. Merlynn the amazing daughter. Merlynn the deceitful little **witch**" he mocked.

"Arthur I-"

"_Shut up_! I don't want to hear your excuses. I don't want to hear another word from you. I gave you so many chances to tell me the truth. I trusted you, you were treated like a friend yet you sit there planning and plotting against me. Against Camelot"

"What! No, I would never do that"

"Then why learn witchcraft Merlynn, out of everyone in my life. Why would you go out and learn witchcraft"

"Arthur I didn't, I never did. I promise you, on my mother's life Arthur. Please believe me. I was born with it" She pleaded leaning over to grab his hands.

Begging through her eyes, he felt himself soften, wanting to soothe her but he remembered at the very last moment that there was no such thing as a born witch.  
Merlynn nearly fell of her horse as he threw her hands of him, snaring at her. "I was going to let you go, just banish you from Camelot, but if you can put your own mothers life on the chopping board like that..." The look of utter disgust that passed his faced made her heart do a funny little squeeze.  
"You will come back to Camelot because I do not trust you not to go and join forces some druids with a plan to overthrow Camelot"

He kicked his horse into gear before turning back around looking at the sobbing girl, who was crying as if she was the one with the broken heart. "Oh and Merlynn if I don't see you in Camelot by night fall I will assume that you run away and not only will I chase you but Hunith life will be forfeited" with that he spun around trotting up to catch the other knight who all notice the distinctive lack of Merlynn.

:::x:::

Merlynn had trouble remembering how she got back into town, how she did anything. She couldn't remember a single thing she did after Arthur had left. All she knew was that her gut was right, she should have listened to it earlier, maybe she wouldn't have lost Arthur.

:::x:::

Arthur had taken to avoiding Merlynn, something that didn't go unnoticed by everyone in the kingdom. He had Morganna coming up to him ordering him to fix whatever he did. There was Gwen who tried guilt tripping him into making up with Merlynn. There were the servants who managed to slip Merlynn name into the conversation with them when he was asking about the food supply, the cooks started over salting his food.  
The stable hands were late preparing his horses.  
His clothes were left unwashed.  
His bathing water was cold.  
Even his own father had joined the conspiracy urging him to get his normal servant back as he didn't like this new guy.

The final straw came when the knights decided that they would contribute to the situation as well by ambushing him at the end of the training session. Lancelot was obviously the most willing to die or so it would seem as he started prattling on about how sad Merlynn was, how much weight she lost. How she looked so sad and haunted. How the girl kept on crying.

"Arthur if she has done something to you please forgive. If not for her sake or for anyone else then for yourself. You obviously miss her just as much as she misses you. She just wakes up help hunith and giaus with potions or flower picking then goes back to sleep, she doesn't smile, or laugh. She's like the walking dead," Lancelot pleaded placing a hand on his shoulders.

"Arthur is Merlynn. You know the girl that can trip over thin air. The one that never leaves your side, the only one in this damn kingdom willing to die for you. It's Merlynn." Gwaine repeated staring across the courtyard looking at the girl in question. "So stop being a prat and go talk to her anyways I bet you did something to upset her not the other way round."

"That is true, Your Highness. Whatever grievance you may have against her I suggest you forgive her because it is _unsettling_" Leon chipped in. In fact looking around he could tell that all the knights agreed that he should forgive her, even if they didn't know what she had done. What she **was.**

"Tell me Sir Leon **what** is so _unsettling_ about this?" he quirked his eyebrow staring down at the man.  
"Servants talk Your highness" he replied

"And what do these servants say, exactly that has caused all of you to be so unsettled that you ambushed me to talk about a serving girl?" he could feel his temper raising.  
Why did any of them care what he did with Merlynn? Why were they pleading her case when he was being more than generous.  
He could have killed her; he should have; yet he spared her life. He had told no one of her secret.

He had **allowed** her back into Camelot knowing she was a witch, and here they were, his most trusted friends telling him to be **nicer**.

"It's **THAT** Arthur, the way you _talk_ about her, and the way you look at her. That what is unnerving. There hasn't been a day since you two met each other that you have behaved this way. In the three years you have known her she has never been the serving girl, she is **Merlynn!**" Leon shouted shocking everyone present.  
The guy who was always so composed, so well mannered. Always calling him Your Highness just shouted at him _and_ used his given name.

Why the hell was everyone on Merlynn side? Why did he feel so miserable without her? Why did his heart always give an extra kick when he saw her?


	2. The Fallout

Merlynn had spent the last two weeks being ignored by Arthur, having people telling her that he would come around, that it would all be okay.

Except that she knew that it wouldn't be; because she had just been dragged in front of the King by the palace guards. The court had cleared out, per orders of the king and Arthur standing a little to the right of her staring straight ahead.

He was throwing her in front of the guillotine and did not have the _decency_ to look at her whilst he did it.  
What was the point in letting her traipse around the town for two weeks if he wasn't going to talk after he calmed down she wondered.

She had spent the last two weeks missing him, wanting their old routine back, wanting him to forgive her.

The swine.

She was broken out of her thoughts when Uther started speaking, shocking her back to reality.  
"Arthur has been telling what has been going on," he stated.

"I am sure he has," she answered flippantly. If she was going to die why should she maintain her manners. This seemed to have stirred thing up, because, not only did the swine deem it worth his time to actually _look_ at her, he seemed to be panicking.

"I want to give you a chance to hear your side of the story" Uther continued as if she had not just spoken.  
"Don't bother; everything Arthur said was the truth. Even though he didn't believe me when I said it I was _born_ this way, I didn't go out and learn any tricks"  
"So all this upheaval is because of a simple-"

"Wait, I just want to add that you should teach your son some lesson in listening to people-"  
"Merlynn silent" Arthur hissed.

"Why should I?" she shot back. "You have just spent the last two weeks ignoring me for something I didn't…. something I can't control. I-"

"Will you be quite for once before you get yourself killed" he marching up to her grabbing her by the shoulders.

Uther watched the whole thing with a mixture of fascination, dread and anger; he knew that Arthur and his maidservant relationship were an unusual one.

He had heard stories of they way the acted more like friends, he had even seen it at times but he never gave it a second thought.  
Not when she had proven to be such a faithful and loyal servant but this. This was a something else.

Even he could feel the animosity building up by the second, he had thought that the stories of the dispute between the two were exaggerated however that did not seem to be the case. Both parties looked about ready to kill the other

"SHUT UP, both of you," he roared causing them to jump, looks like they had been too invested in the argument to remember where they currently were. "Before I have you publically flogged for such disrespect in front of your king"

Arthur took a step back apologizing for the disrespect. He did not fail to notice that the girl offered no apologies; in fact she was holding her head up high as if this situation was beneath her.  
The urge to carry out the flogging had made itself know but he pushed that aside for a latter day.

"Whatever argument you have had with each other _shall_ be resolved by the day's end, unless you wish to visit the dungeons. I will _not_ have another meeting where the **_sole_** topic of discussion is how the town feels disrupted by your behavior. I failed to why people were so disconcerted, however if the display you put on earlier is any indication of how you have been conducting yourself I can see the cause for concern." Uther continued noticing the look of confusing on the girl's face as if she was trying to work out the pieces of a intricate puzzle.

"I strongly _suggest_ that you both find a room, stay there and leave _after_ you have resolved your differences"

"Father that will not be advisable I-"  
"I would rather eat a pig's-" Merlynn began.

"Despite popular belief neither one of you have a choice. Resolve your difference by day's end or become acquainted with the dungeons. The next time you two have an argument you better make sure that it doesn't affect my city."

:::x:::

Merlynn arrived at Arthur's bedchamber still feeling out of step with everything. Why had the King dismiss her, surely she should have been heading to the prison cells.

"What the hell do you think you were doing speaking that way to the King" Arthur said rounding on her as soon as the door shut behind them.

"Oh, I don't know something like I was going to die anyways so why should I keep being polite" she snapped

"So that it, you get called in front of the king and decided that you lose all common sense"

"More like I get dragged in front of the king for the first time ever after a certain _someone_ found out about a certain _something_." She whispered harshly, despite wanting to scream at him, the guards posted outside the door did not need to know what was happening. Arthur knowing was bad enough let alone someone who had no loyalty to her, assuming Arthur had any loyalty to begin with.  
"The same someone who threatened to _kill_ my mother" she watched as the color drained from his face.

At least he felt guilty about that part she thought before he opened his mouth "Don't expect me to apologies, _Merlynn_. The king wants to see us getting along so just be here bright and early Monday morning for your duties"

:::x:::

Merlynn had spent the weekend feeling better than she had in weeks; she had gone fishing with Lancelot and some of the other knights, she even let Morgana, Freya and Gwen drag her to the market stalls for some new clothes.

She refused to believe that Arthur didn't trust her, she was back to being his maidservant, everything was getting back on track.  
Plus she was sure he has had time to calm down and was ready to listen to her.

Merlynn woke up on Monday morning feeling happy, genuinely ecstatic about the day.  
She couldn't believe she had been looking forward to drawing his bath once again, except by the time she reached downstairs Joe told her that George had already done it.  
She went to get the breakfast except that was done.

She walked outside to go collect the laundry except George had beaten her to it, again. The same thing had happen when it came to cleaning the room, turning down the bed, polishing the armor, even mucking the stupid stables.

In fact George had done _everything_, all she did was follow Arthur doing absolutely nothing.  
They had spent the whole day with him pretending that she didn't exist not; during breakfast, the council meeting, the knights training, lunch, dinner with the King, even now he was reading a tax report ignoring her existence.

This wasn't how she imagined the day going, surely he did not intend for her to be a walking backdrop.

:::x:::

"Arthur you cannot be serious about this" Merlynn conceded breaking the silence that had been stretching out all day.  
"I can assure you Merlynn that I am" turning back to the documents he decided to ignore her.

AGAIN.  
"George you can start drawing my evening bath" he replied looking up from the report about the grain usage.

As soon as George walked out of the room Merlynn exploded; he knew it was coming and a part of him wanted to laugh.  
She was so predictable; she couldn't keep anything in to save her life '_except being a sorcerer_' his mind provided dampening his mood again yet again.

"Are you really going to pay two people to be your servants especially when I have done nothing all day but follow you around" she questioned

"Why are you complaining you still get paid and the King won't be throwing us in the dungeon for not getting along" he replied moving behind the robe screen.

"Because unlike you I would rather do something _productive_ with my day, even fetching your food is more appealing than following you around all day and getting paid for that"

"Think of it this way Merlynn." he spoke walking out from behind the screen, tying a robe around him. "Seeing as I don't trust you not to go off plotting against Camelot you need to be by my side all day, _everyday. _If you have a problem with getting paid for nothing think of it as me paying you _not_ to be a _traitor_" he whispered. He was standing directly in front of Merlynn by the time he had stopped talking, towering over her, something he found himself doing more and more often.

He could see every emotion that flickered across her face from where he stood.  
He had caught himself numerous time throughout the day moving closer to her or about to tell her a joke or going to suggest something knowing it would make her laugh.  
He hadn't realize how much he had missed her until she was back at his side, he felt as if the vice around his chest had loosen a bit with her next to him.

Merlynn stood there completely stunned whilst listening to Arthur; it wasn't till that very moment that she realized that she had started to **_hate_** Arthur Pendragon.

He had accused her of lying and betraying him yet here he was ignoring the years of friendship they built.

She could feel her control slipping so she wasn't as surprised as she should be when she realized that she had slapped him.

She had to push past a shocked Morgana and Leon who were standing by the door blocking the pathway.

:::x:::

Arthur had succeeded in kicking Leon and Morgana out without too much fuss, it could have had something to do with the fact that he threatened to run them through with his sword- but he wasn't planning on concentrating on that.

He had more important things to worry about; like the nightmares that he had been having about a stupid dragon underneath Camelot.  
He made sure to double check that the doors were locked tonight as he had no plans of sleep walking through the castle listening to a giant lizard giving him directions to it's secret liar.  
Again.

:::x:::

The next morning Morgana had manage to round up Freya, Lancelot, Gwen, Percival, Leon, Gwaine and all the other knights after hearing Arthur asking permission to go on a hunting trip.

"Guys I am telling you to find a way to stop this hunting trip" Morgana said pacing up and down staring at the various people in attendance. "Their relationship is getting worse the more time the spend together."

"But they have been can't stay together all day and not sort out their issues. It must be getting better, I mean there are not avoiding each other anymore" Lancelot piped up looking hopeful.

"Lance, we walked in on her _slapping_ him yesterday night" she hated to disillusion the gentle knight but she needed them to find a way to separate Arthur and Merlynn. "It is not getting any better and I am pretty sure the reason you guys are going on this hunting trip is so that Arthur can make Merlynn pay.'

"He wouldn't do that" Lancelot still refused to believe that one of the best friendship in Camelot had been ruined over some stupid argument that no one knew anything about.

"Yes I guess your right Lancelot. I mean Arthur is _not_ petty enough to organize the _one thing_ Merlynn **_hates_** the most in this world if it was to get his own back" Gwaine snarled at him unconsciously pulling Freya closer to him.

He was getting sick and tired of the way Merlynn was being treated; this was why he hated noble people, as soon as something goes wrong they turned into the devil.

"Gwaine we didn't call this meeting so that you can pick a fight with Lancelot" Leon said standing up from his chair. "You guys weren't there yesterday so you don't know how awkward the situation was. They are getting worse. Yesterday was worse than the last hunting trip and I don't think anyone wants to spend the next twenty-four hours silently walking on egg shells, so we are going to find a way to stop this trip, _then_ we are going to figure out what has been going one before this get any worse, if at all possible" he grumbled.

Leon didn't like what was going on, he doubted anyone did. Whatever has been going on didn't start two weeks ago like everyone had been assuming; Arthur's behavior started changing about two months ago.

If they were going to solve this they needed to know what happened two months ago to change Arthur from a guy who had been falling in love with Merlynn –whether he knew it or not- to one who seemed could only look at her with anger coupled with frustration.

:::x:::

Needless to say they had not managed to stop the hunting trip, nor had they manage to figure out why Merlynn and Arthur were fighting.

It seems that neither of them had told _anyone_ what was going on, the only clues they had were the rumors going around the castle and those were just getting more ridiculous and desperate by the second.

Whatever was going on seems to have worsened (something they had all thought impossible) after they got attacked by a group of bandits with Arthur acting as if Merlynn could protect him.  
The already downtrodden mood hit an all-new low.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?" Arthur roared stomping up to her causing all the knights to freeze.

"I have no idea what you are talking about" she responded off handedly trying to set Percival shoulders back in place.

"Where were you when I was being ambushed by twelve people" he growled feeling too battered and bruised to actually think.

These stupid dreams were messing with his head; the more dreams he had the angrier he got at Merlynn for whatever reason.  
He had found himself sleep walking again last night, going further than before, he even passed the dungeons, only waking up after tripping on some loose stones on some ancient part of the castle that it didn't even have torches.

"Arthur back off. It is not her job to die protecting you and why would she look at the way you've been treating her," Gwaine said pulling Merlynn closer to him creating a physical barrier between them. The message was delivered rather clearly; '_You have to go through me to get to her'_

The hunting trip lasted for an extra three hours before they headed back to Camelot; no one was in the mood for fake hunting whilst walking on eggshells. Percy needed his shoulders looked at by Gaius and it was only a matter of time before Arthur tried to kill Merlynn or Gwaine tried to kill Arthur or Merlynn tried to kill Arthur so the rest of the knights will have to kill either Gwaine or Merlynn for killing the Arthur.

::x::

Merlynn was tired; she had spent the last two weeks wishing she could be Arthur servant again just to want to kill him within two days of getting her wish. She was getting tired of the silent treatment and walking on eggshells, at least before when Arthur hated her she wasn't around to feel it.  
She did not even reach her room she before Arthur ambushed her pushing her into the closet alcove around.

"Want to explain why you did nothing whilst I nearly got killed by those ruffians" he asked, shielding her from any passerby, effectively blocking her escape at the same time.

"I thought you could handle it sire" she mocked her eyes blazing defiantly, staring right back at him.

"Really. You thought one man could hold his own against twelve?" he scoffed.

"Why not, you are always saying how you defeated an army single handedly. Yet here you are moaning about the fact that I didn't help"

"I could have died. You could have used your-" Arthur stopped short realizing what he was about to say.

Merlynn must have also realized because disbelief was etched unto her face  
"You do not get to stand there _despising_ me for what I am and still think that I will be still be there protecting you when you are in danger. You do not get to use me like a weapon or a shield. Not anymore."

If it wasn't for the fact that she was literally hissing her words at him or that she had so little control over her magic; if the flashing amber eyes were any indication; Arthur would have enjoyed the fact that she was standing so close.

Dangerously close, close enough that he was forgetting why they were standing here.  
So close that his fingers started reaching out to touch her… till she pushed past him

Neither of them had realized that the alcove they were standing in was not so secret nor were their words so quite.  
Gwaine and Lancelot watched as Merlynn shouldered past Arthur leaving the prince behind looking ready to kill someone. Despite hearing their conversation almost word for word it did not make any sense to the two knights; they were still in the dark; but neither suspected that what they heard was useless.


	3. Moving on

Arthur's night only went downhill after Merlynn had stormed off; not only did he spend half the night trying to decipher what Merlynn meant by him using her, he found himself waking up having sleep walked all the way past the dungeons this time.

His dreams about the dragon were getting longer and more detailed and every time he woke up he felt his anger at Merlynn just growing.

:::x:::

The next morning Merlynn was feeling incredibly guilty about what she had done yesterday, she shouldn't have left Arthur vulnerable like that, no matter how angry she had been feeling. Her mum had compounded the guilty by explaining how Arthur had come to her with several bruise ribs and a concussion.

She had entered into his room wanting to apologies and planning to heal him- with magic if he would have allowed it- and left than thirty minutes later upset and ready to strangle the prat. What was it with her being alone with Arthur in his room that caused them to despise each other? Had someone _spelled_ the room because that was the only explanation she could come up with where the conversation has started with a 'would you let me help' you and ended with Arthur ordering her out of his room.

_Twenty minutes ago_:  
"Would you let me help you?" Merlynn asked feeling even more guilty after spotting the bruises that dotted around Arthur's body whilst putting his top on.  
"Help with what exactly Merlynn" Arthur replied seething at the sight of Merlynn standing there unharmed. Unlike him and his ribs. He was even having difficulty finding a position to sit in that didn't aggravate any of his back injury.

" I shouldn't have" she started looking up to meet his gaze "Yesterday with the bandits, I should have helped, it's my- I wanted to- I." taking a deep breath she moved forward to stand next to Arthur. "I shouldn't have let you got so hurt, no matter how angry I was"

"**You** were angry?" Arthur replied standing so quickly that his chair toppled over "What do _you_ have to be angry about _Merlynn_. You got to _stay_ here in Camelot, you have the _prince_ helping you keep your _secret _which is tantamount to treason itself; you have just made me a conspirator to your secret. _What_ do you have to be angry with exactly Merlynn because is sure as hell can't be _those_ things." He ranted.  
"I spent last night thinking about what you said, about being my invisible shield" he moved to pick up the chair from the floor trying to distract himself "and I was just thinking, about how odd it was that after years of this shield _protecting_ me it started having a defect in it as soon as I found it secret. I have to admit that you are rather versatile first you spend three years gaining my trust under the guise of my servant and when that doesn't work you I am suddenly ambushed by a group of bandits on a regular hunting trip"

Merlynn was getting ready to explode at Arthur, the more she thought about him the angrier she got. She wondered how their relationship was deteriorating so fast, she knew that Arthur would be angry when he found out but this was different; there was actual _hatred_ seeping through the anger and that had nothing to do with her magic. This was just plain hatred directed at Merlynn for being Merlynn and the scary part was the hatred was being reciprocated.

Whatever plans she had this morning to apologies to Arthur had started to leave her mind as soon as she stepped foot into his room, it was being replaced with anger.

"I have protected you for the last three years, you finding out _how_ I did so does not change the fact" she stated "do you even know _why_ you are angry with me; is it because I have magic or is because **_I_** have magic; would you care if it was Gwaine or Lance or Morgana or does it have to be me?" she questioned

"Merlynn get out, NOW!" Arthur hadn't realized he was speaking until he saw Merlynn head snapped up and running out of them room; something that was becoming a common occurrence with them; Merlynn always running away angry or upset or crying and in this case all three, he would guess.

What the hell was going on he knew he was upset about her lying to him, he felt betrayed but _not_ _enough_ to act like this, surely. Every time he saw her his heart did that funny little dance and for a second he felt safe and happy that Merlynn was there, then that second would pass and the resentment would come back with such force that it left him unable to breathe.  
He could always hear someone, something, the imaginary dragon from his dreams, whispering in his ears; fuelling the rage that had been building up for the past couple of months.

:::x:::

They had spent the day in the same fashion as before; with George doing all the chores, Merlynn trailing behind Arthur and Arthur ignoring Merlynn; until Morgana walked into his room, dismissed George and had proceeded to lecture them about their behavior then storm right back out again.  
"She is right you know" Arthur spoke still staring at the door his sister had just marched out of "We will find a way to move on from this. I don't trust you, I don't think I ever will again and you obviously feel betrayed –for some reason- but we _will_ move past this. If there is a way to get past this we find it."

"Yes, sire" Merlynn replied shocking Arthur. This was the first time she had addressed him properly, EVER.  
She wasn't even sure why the word had popped out of her mouth, it left her feeling confused even though she was the one that had uttered it. Some where between Morgana shouting and Arthur saying that he didn't trust her and didn't understand why she was feeling hurt she had realized that the only way to move on was to move _past_ this friendship.

"Sire?" he questioned  
"I am doing as you ordered I am moving on, the only way I can _move on_ is if I stop feeling as if you have betrayed me is some way _sire_ and the only reason I feel this way is because I thought we had a friendship. But if we have no friendship then there is no betrayal, what phrase did you use the other day; something about me being _just a serving girl_? You were right, I should be nothing more than a serving girl to you."

"Mer-"  
"_Goodnight sire_, I will be starting the preparation for the tournament tomorrow but I should be free during the afternoon, I am sure George won't mind serving you in the morning" with that she spun around and walked away.

Arthur had a feeling that she wasn't just walking back to her room, or her mum's place, she was walking _away__. _ Away from him, away from _everything_ and that was bad. This wasn't what he wanted, he didn't want her to, he couldn't, _she_ couldn't; Arthur couldn't breathe, he couldn't- Merlynn couldn't-.

What was he meant to do, she was Merlynn. They were a team, she had never been anything but Merlynn not since they meet three years ago.

It had always been Arthur and Merlynn, even despite these last few weeks it was always Arthur and Merlynn.

Yet he knew that she was gone, he could hear it in her voice, he saw it in the way she held herself when leaving. His Merlynn was gone and whatever bond he had with Merlynn was being destroyed.

:::x:::

The bond she had with Arthur had been stretched to the point of snapping, but it still held intact; she was still his maidservant. The bond was still there, but it would not be the same.

Merlynn wasn't sure how she had walked from Arthur's room to her mother's house, she wasn't sure why even, her own room in the castle was closer.  
She needed to be with someone who knew about her magic and still loved her, still treated her like Merlynn; she needed her mum.

:::x:::


	4. Moving past

True to her word Arthur did not see Merlynn until that afternoon at the knight training; he could tell that she had spent sometime crying, something he choose to ignore instead he asked if she had managed to finish the work this morning. He was still concerned about her welfare despite the lingering sense of betrayal.

"Yes, I managed to get everything done, sire" she muttered cryptically, at least it was to everyone else apart from Arthur.  
"Sire?" the knights cried out incredulously, causing a small smile to escape through her lips. They looked traumatized, she wasn't sure who was more stunned out of the whole group but her bet will have to be on Leon, Lancelot or Gwaine.

"Merlynn are you … okay?" Lancelot asked gently as if he fearing that speaking any louder she would break.  
"Perfectly fine Lance"  
"But you just called Arthur sire" Percival brooked

"That I did" she grinned; she _was_ having fun at their expense  
"But you have never called him _Sire_, prince prat maybe" Leon interjected he was sure that he would be shocked for some time to come; if Merlynn had said she was a he, he would have been less surprised but calling Arthur sire; this was, it redefined the laws of the world as he knew it.  
Merlynn wasn't meant to call Arthur _Sire_.  
EVER

"Don't you think is time to start calling him by his title" she asked innocently.

"Yeah, but you haven't. You've never- is"  
"And now I have started, there is only so many times I can get _lectured_ by you to address his highness properly and _not_ have it sink in"

"But – you-"  
"So does everyone else get a new name or is it just Prince prat over there" Gwaine interject cutting off Leon's stumbling. He knew what was going on, or at least he suspected, he had been watching their interaction and although he dadn't been able place his finger on what was different he knew that Arthur and Merlynn were not the Arthur and Merlynn he knew; they were no longer friends nor were they looking at each other with hurt filled eyes- well _not much_ and it was only when the other was looking away.  
What ever had gone on last night; these two had done _something _to change their relationship.

Merlynn walked up to Gwaine pattig him on the cheek "Don't worry you are still going to be my drunk"

"Good because if you start giving me any new pet name Freya will claw your eyes out" he replies bumping his shoulder with hers.

"Please" she scoffed "You do know that Freya loves me more than you right"

"Don't remind me" he grumbled walking with her to get swords for practice.

Arthur couldn't hear what they were saying but that didn't stop the feeling of envy blossoming especially when he heard Merlynn laughter carried over by the wind.

"Bet you are regretting your actions right now" Morgana said stepping up from behind him.

"I don't know what you are talking about, don't you have some where else to be? Somewhere _far_ away from here?" He questioned.

"Normally I would say you deserve it; especially considering the way you been treating her but I think this is more than punishment enough because is sinking in right about _now_ that you have **lost** Merlynn isn't it" Morgana stated

"- You have lost the _one_ _constant_ in your life Arthur" Gwen continued as if reading from a script

"Yeah, what she said." Morgana looked across the field to where Merlynn and Gwaine were standing picking up swords and daggers while the bantered. She didn't fail to notice the look of hurt on Arthurs face and neither did Leon. She was sure they would all be discussing that later on in the evening.

Turning around Morgana started walking back to the castle; whatever mess Arthur had made of his relationship was not her problem.  
"How did you know what I was going to say Guinevere" she questioned climbing the stairs with her maidservant  
"I am not sure, I guess I have known you long enough to know what you will say next." She responded

"Oh, well. I am not sure if that is a good think or not; I don't want to corrupt you for poor Lancelot" she joked smiling at her maidservant. "Have the rest of the day off, someone needs to go and distract Uther from the latest Arthur troubles plus you don't look so well. Why don't you go home I can find someone else to accompany me for the day"

:::x:::

Gwen had watched the scene unfold before her as if she was experiencing de-ja vu except this wasn't one. She knew Merlynn was going to call Arthur sire, she knew how the knight would react.  
She knew _exactly_ what was going to happen before they did.

She had known from the _moment_ Morgana and her had stepped unto the field to go watch the knight's training what was going to happen.

It wasn't the first time that this had happened but it was definitely the scariest; it proved it.  
Her dreams were coming true. She could see into the future.  
Gwen was slowly coming to the realization that she was something that she shouldn't be; not when living in Camelot and being a witch carried a death warrant.

::x::

Later that night one of the smaller rooms in the castle was occupied with knights and servant in an argument about the latest development in Arthur and Merlynn's friendship.

"What exactly happen last night Morgana?" Percival questioned curious at to know what had changed their friends' relationship so dramatically

"Nothing as far as I know, I told them that they were being stupid, that whatever argument that they had was not worth ripping apart their friendship for and that they should learn to move on"

"Great advice there, _Morgan_a" Gwaine sneered "Considering that Arthur's version of moving on is to treat Merlynn like a servant"

"Calm down Gwaine, you don't know if it was Arthur's idea" Lancelot interjected, trying to stop a fight from breaking out. Everyone was already tense and in a mood to start a fight.

"Really? Do any of you think that this plan of Merlynn calling Arthur _sire_ came from _her_?" he asked looking around "Is just something Arthur would do; he has just spent the last two weeks ignoring her existent and the moment he acknowledges her, she is either _slapping_ him or getting _attacked_ by bandits"

"Arthur is also hurt by all of this and the second incident was not his fault" Morgana stated trying to defend the one person who was like a brother to her.

"I don't care about the prat Morgan, not when this is all his fault"

"What? Do you really think that Arthur decided to wake up one morning and ignore his best friend? He is also suffering because of this"

"Like I said I don't _care_ how he feels" he stated again vaguely away that the rest of the room had gotten quite listening to them argue, "He was the one that decided to start treating Merlynn like this for the last _two months_ I am not surprised that their friendship is ruined, nor am I planning on crying over it. Whatever is going on is _Arthur's_ fault, I don't _care_ how much he misses her or how much weight he's lost, not when Merlynn has been crying herself to sleep over a guy she thought was her friend. Someone that after years of friendship can ignore that and treat her like a common_ serving girl"_

"That is **enough**, from both of you" Leon said once Gwaine had stopped to catch his breath. "We are here to _fix_ what is going on not to find out who to blame. Gwaine, Morgana is right I don't think that Arthur just woke up one morning deciding to act like this" he raised his hands to silence the knight in question before he started a whole new argument.

"However Morgana, Gwaine is also correct in saying that whatever has been going has been happening longer than the past fortnight. The only way to help them is to find out _what_ caused Arthur to change his behaviour two months ago throughout the week and meet in a week's time."

"Gwaine and Lancelot should talk to Merlynn" Morgana stated "Seeing as they came to Camelot together like some sort of package deal. Plus I don't trust Gwaine not to try to kill Arthur"

"Fine by me, I am hardly going to trust you to talk to her, Arthur is practically your brother" he retorted  
"And Merlynn is practically your sister. What is your point"

"It doesn't matter _what_ his point it. The meeting is over" Lancelot found himself interjecting again; if it wasn't for the fact that Morgana was in love with Leon and Gwaine with Freya he would have thought all this argument was because they liked each other. "Come on Gwaine if you spend any more time arguing we are going to be late and I will leave it to you to explain to Mama Hunith why that is" Lancelot said dragging Gwaine out of the door so quickly that he didn't even manage to say goodbye to anyone.

:::x:::

Arthur had watched as Merlynn behaved like a proper maidservant throughout the week; she was on time, didn't speak out of turn, addressed him properly, did every job on time and with such excellence he would have suspected her using magic if he had not been with her all day long.

In short Merlynn had become the maidservant he always complained about wanting and he _hated_ it; he hated the barrier that this had created.

She didn't give any indication of plotting against Camelot in fact she acted the same way as she always had. He was beginning to suspect that what Kilgarrah had said was a complete lie, at least he had been until Merlynn suddenly perked up when Uther had mentioned that Cenred was planning on coming to Camelot.

What had possessed him to go looking for the dragon in the first place?

_It had been nine days since Merlynn had started being just a maidservant, not that he was counting. Nine days filled with more dreams of a talking dragon, so if roaming through the castle in the middle of the night to locate some imaginary dragon was the only way he could sleep then so be it._

_Walking aimlessly around another corner, he came upon the dragon, the one from his dream, just sitting on top of a rock staring at him, waiting for him._

_"Ah the young Pendragon, finally have you come" Kilgarrah spoke. "A dragon? Of course I have a sorcerer for a maidservant and a dragon tied up under my castle. What next, my mother is really my father in disguise?". A part of him recognized that he should be astonished at what he was seeing but it all felt like an out of body experience; real but unreal at the same time. Maybe he was still asleep or he had started hallucinating because of the lack of sleep he had gotten._

_Arthur watched as the dragon chuckled causing the cave to quake._

_"No, not quite young one. There has been many legends written and spoken about you and Merlynn, young Pendragon yet I fear the course that you have set upon will bring about great disaster upon Camelot"_

_"What are you talking about?" "Be careful in how you interact with your maidservant Merlynn. She is on a path of becoming Camelot's greatest enemy and if that happens young one; Camelot will never see it's golden age" with that piece of advice Kilgarrah flew off knowing that it was only a matter of time before his plan will come to fruition._

Arthur now sat on the steps outside his room, he began thinking about the possibility that the dragon may have been right; what better way to bring Camelot down, than to have it go to war against another kingdom. Considering that Merlynn couldn't leave Camelot the best solution was to have Cenred come here under the guise of a piece treaty.

But he was sure that that couldn't be right; he had been watching Merlynn and found that she still acted the same; with everyone apart from him that is. There were times when he looked at her and was hit with what he had lost; even remembering that she was a witch did nothing to dull the ache. If Merlynn was still the same then there was a possibility that she wasn't evil just because she was a witch.

He needed answers; there were only two people he knew of that could give it to him. He needed to see one of them tonight before he did anything else.

…..

Unofficial Author's note:  
Firstly, Sorry for not uploading this yesterday like promised but I had to re-write some scene because I didn't like them.

Can **everyone** who read this review the chapter specifically telling me what they think; I don't like _something_ about this chapter…. I can't put my hands on it so I would like your opinion. I think the way I am writing has changed… not sure.  
* Next chapter will show you some of the past.- to be uploaded later on today or tomorrow*

**Please review this chapter**


	5. Solemn Promise

Arthur never made it to Merlynn's room to talk, in fact he never made it out of his own room once he had re-entered; he had gone to sleep instead. The matter did not seem as urgent anymore; Merlynn was still going to be a sorceress whether he spoke to her or not.

He had insisted on spending the remainder of the week over seeing the preparation for Cenred's visit. Every thing had to go according to plan if Camelot was to avoid going to war; Arthur was particularly torn between sending Merlynn far away from any treaty discussion and keeping her right next to him to monitor her behavior.

:::x:::

Cenred had arrived a week later with all the air one would if they were royal and had only managed to arrive just in time for the evening feast.

Merlynn could feel herself practically bouncing on the spot, something that seemed to catch the knights' attention but was ignored by most except Gwaine and Lancelot who understood Merlynn's excitement of seeing him again after almost eight years.

Arthur had to wait patiently all night before being able to drag Merlynn away from the festivities to his room; despite wanting to leave earlier, he had been duty-bound to stay until Cenred had retired for the night.  
Arthur turned to order George to retire for the night slamming the door in his face not waiting for a response.

He had sat fuming throughout the dinner; he caught the little interaction between Cenred and Merlynn just before dinner had started and had to sit there silently whilst looking at the way Cenred had divided his attention between what his father was currently saying and shooting quick glances at Merlynn.

He was definitely too furious to be near Merlynn, he was mindful of the distance between them as he crossed the room to open some windows letting in the cold night air.

He felt too incensed to be near her and not feel the desire to harm her in some way. In fact he was realising that dragging Merlynn to his room was a bad idea; it was just the two of them and unlike downstairs there was no one else to try to distract him from staring at Merlynn. Plus every time he entered this room the feeling of anger he had for Merlynn always escalated, especially when they were alone.

"What ever plan you have, you will stop it" Arthur hissed between clenched teeth.

"What are you talking about?" Merlynn asked confused, it is not to say that she hadn't noticed the fact that Arthur had been getting angrier through dinner and was more so now but she was genuinely confused as to what he was saying.

"What ever plans you have with _Cenred,_ to destroy this peace treaty you **are** going to **_cancel_** it _Merlynn"_

"I have no plans with Cenred"

"Do not take me for a fool Merlynn, do not think that I did not notice the way he was staring at you, signaling to you, the way you have been practically jumping around the place since you learnt that he was coming here…" Taking a deep breath Arthur tried to calm himself down.

"Cenred wasn't trying to… there is no plans between us, the only reason we know each other is because my mum used to be the physician assistant in Cenred's kingdom when we were younger, about eight years ago"

Arthur studied her quietly for a moment trying to figure out if she was telling the truth or concocting a liar to save herself.

Walking up to her, Arthur reached out to grab her right hand in a vice like grip placing it over his heart before speaking

"If this treaty is a disguise for something else… You have my _solemn_ _promise_ that I _will kill you_ before the day is out. I will not let Camelot go to war, innocent people will not lose their lives just so you can get your hands on the crown"

"Get. Your. Hands. Off. Me. _Sire_" she whispered. "You have asked me a question and I have answered, I do not have any other obligations to you. If you think I am plotting against Camelot then all you have to do is _prove_ _it_"

Releasing her hand, which had now, began to bruise, the two occupants of the room glared at each other for a moment before deciding to retire to their beds for the night.

::x::


	6. Before she was yours

Merlynn had managed to spend the morning without Arthur, a rare occurrence these days seeing as she was no longer trusted to roam around the kingdom on her own.

She had secluded herself to the weapons room to polish some of the armor; she hoped that the tediousness of the task would keep her from thinking about what happened last night.

Lunchtime had rolled around bringing Cenred along with it; she had wondered when he would come see her.

Although her wondering didn't manage to curtail her surprise in realizing that he had managed to escape the host of activity planned quite so early. Being Arthur maid servant she knew that they planned various activities in the first few days; it was one of the reason she was having an Arthur-free morning; with the amount of outing, meeting, hunting, horse back riding, jousting, sword fighting there was no time for him to keep a constant vigil on her

"I thought you would have been kept busy for the next three days at least. How did you manage to escape?" Merlynn asked reaching up to re-tie the loose strands of hair that was falling across her face, unknowingly causing her sleeves to fall downwards revealing a bruise in the shape of a hand that decorated her slender arm.

"I said something about coming to choose my own weapon for the sword fight. You being here was just a happy coincident"

"At least someone is happy," she muttered darkly

"If you are unhappy you are always welcomed to come back with me, I have missed you"

"Thanks but I like it here but I have missed you too"

"Can I ask you why you like Camelot?". Cenred asked curiously.

"Because I have things that needs doing, my friends are here, my family is here, my place is here, I am happy here." _when Arthur is not behaving as if I have killed a child_ she added silently. Dropping one shield on the table next to her she simply picked up another

"Next to the prince's side no doubt" Cenred replied bitterly because he was aware of precisely who put the markings on Merlynn.

He was fortunate enough to spot Arthur from across the field walking towards them; guess he had decided that Cenred was taking too long in picking out a decent sword.

Merlynn on the other hand was too busy polishing the prince's armor to notice his approach "So how did the lover's tiff go yesterday"

"There was no lover's tiff Cenred"

"Really, I am surprised since Arthur spent all night _trying to kill me with his eyes_ every time I looked over at you"

"Well, he has mastered paranoia- " she said only half joking

"Let me guess he thinks I am here to whisk you away?"  
"No he thinks you are here because _we_ plan on attacking Camelot" she replied intensely taking her frustration out on the shield in hand.

Cenred would have thought she was joking if wasn't for angriness placed on her face; he had turned his back just before Arthur had reached the hearing distance of the conversation. "Why don't you take me up on my offer then, you could always come back to Essetir with me"

Arthur stood by the door waiting for Merlynn to turn him down; except she didn't. She paused, Merlynn was actually considering _leaving_ Camelot; Arthur did not like the feeling of fear and panic that was settling in the pit of his stomach.

Stepping away from his hiding place he surveyed the scene before ordering Merlynn out of the weapons room; going by her reaction when he started speaking he was fairly certain that she didn't know he was there.

Cenred's face on the other hand was now adorned with a face splitting grin so wide he could feel his hands clenching into fists, barley managing not to knock him into the ground

"You will leave her alone" he barked out before turning to leave as well but not before hearing what Cenred had to say in response.

"You are not talking about Merlynn… are you?" Cenred questioned pleased to see the unconcealed rage on Arthur's face.

The guy's emotion was painted across his face as if it was an opened book.

:x:

Merlynn watched as Cenred pummelled Arthur into the ground over and over again; what had started off as a '_friendly'_ bout of swordplay upon Cenred suggestion soon turned into a near death match.

She had started off fairly sure that Cenred wouldn't kill Arthur, what with there being so many witness, and him being in Uther's kingdom but as more time went on the less she began to believe that.

Her heart leapt to her throat when Cenred had refused to remove his sword from Arthur's throat for a few seconds at the end of the bout before reaching out to pull Arthur up from the ground.

Cenred walked up to Arthur a little while later making sure to corner him on his own whilst every one was busy.

"Do you remember what you said earlier? Something about me leaving Merlynn alone, strangely enough, I was going to tell the exact same thing to you; unlike other people who do not pay close attention to detail" he whispered tightening the grip on Arthur hand.

"I actually saw that bruise on Merlynn. The bout will have to act as a sufficient warning, the next time you harm someone whom I consider a friend I will not stop to let you up."

Uther walked up to the two men congratulating them on a fight well done; he would had enjoyed the fight more if Arthur had won, but they were trying to sign a treaty so he did not mind, much, if Arthur faked a loss for the sake of peace.

:x:

Later that night Camelot held a celebration after Cenred the signed the new treaty; everyone was in attendance and was merrily, Uther even noticed Morgana dancing with a number of knights and enjoying herself.

"Seeing as we are celebrating the signing of the new treaty, why don't you stay for a week get to really know Camelot" Uther suggested turning toward the young King.

"I would love to, this just makes it easier for me to spend more time with Hunith… and Merlynn of course" Cenred responded loudly enough for several other people at the table to hear, people like Arthur.

"Hunith? The physician's assistant?" Uther questioned

"Yes, before she was yours, she was mine" Cenred replied causally darting a look over to Merlynn then looking over to enjoy the prince's reaction. "_Hunith_ worked in Essetir as a court physician when I was a boy- before she moved back to Ealdor- somehow she always managed to patch me up despite the troubles I ended up getting into. Naturally I found Merlynn and we became friends"

"I am sure that Arthur will allow Merlynn an afternoon off so you two can reminisce about the old day" Uther responded.

He did not miss the smirk gracing Cenred's face nor did it go unnoticed the way his son barley agreed to the request, through clenched teeth. There was no doubt in his mind that Arthur was intending on keeping Merlynn as far away from Cenred as possible, for the rest of the week.

It was all good and well if the boy thought he might like the girl; it was only naturally she was the closest female that he knew who he did not view as a sister, moreover the two of them had spent nearly every day together since they were fifteen but dear _God_ he should have the _common sense_ to _hide_ the infatuation at the very least.

Maybe the time had come to start looking into future marriage prospectus for Arthur; if they boy could fall for his maidservant then it was high time he looked for a wife. He was about to turn eighteen after all.

:::x:::


	7. The plan

Unsurprisingly Arthur had managed to keep Merlynn away from Cenred despite a week filled with activities and festivities celebrating the signing of the new treaty between the two kingdoms, something that required both Merlynn and Cenred to be in the same room on more than one occasion.

Yet Cenred had not been able to get within ten feet of the girl.

Something that amused Cenred to no end because it had proven what he has been suspecting all week long; the prince cared for his maidservant… more than he should.

If a man was able to go through this length and was desperate enough to order his knights to run interference he clearly valued Merlynn.

::x::

Cenred visit had not helped the situation between Merlynn and Arthur; if anything it had made him more suspicious and paranoid when it came to her.

Merlynn herself found that she could not get within three feet of Arthur without wavering between righteous anger and profound sadness; the whole mess had began to drain her emotionally.  
With every argument and snide remarks that escaped Arthur lips she found herself putting up another brick to the wall she was creating; she still managed to hang out with the knights and Freya on occasion but her smiles no longer reached her eyes.

::x::

Everyone else had began to accept the fact that Arthur and Merlynn's relationship was now broken. They had spent the last month treating each other with either professional detachment or getting into a screaming match; there was no middle ground, no talking, no nothing.  
It was either glacial or volcanic around them and no one could decide which they preferred.

This was taking it toll on both of them; especially Merlynn who had shut off from the world; yes she went clothes shopping with the girls when they asked and stayed after training to banter with the knights but there was no emotions behind the action.

"Maybe you need to take her away" Percival suggested in another one of their late night meetings.

"Do we really? Are you sure?" Gwaine asked mockingly "I _don't_ remember suggesting this _very idea_ about _two weeks ago_"

"Why does every word that seem to come out of your mouth seem to be an insult" Morgana questioned

"Why does every word that comes out of your mouth happen to make Merlynn suffer" Gwaine countered. " Who was it that turned my idea down of taking Merlynn out for a day? And if my word _seems_ insulting I am clearly not doing a good enough job"

"Gwaine calm down it wasn't Morgana's fault. You clearly couldn't have taken Merlynn away; not when Cenred was here doing the peace treaty." Freya reprimanded.  
It seems that the worse Merlynn and Arthur friendship got the worse Morgana and Gwaine friendship got; Morgana was as exceeding loyal to Arthur as Gwaine was to Merlynn and both of them were hot heads.

"As I was saying, is quite obvious that both of them need some time apart; maybe that will help them, they understandably need some time away from each other.

Gwaine and Lancelot can spend a week camping with Merlynn; the treaty has been signed, there are no festivals to prepare for, Arthur has no trips to other kingdom planned and we just went hunting two days ago so it is the perfect time to take Merlynn away" Percival finished.

He could see each of them contemplating the idea, turning it over, trying to find fault and coming up short.

"Will Arthur allow Merlynn to leave?" Lancelot asked innocently.  
"Of course he will, they can hardly stand each other" Morgana and Gwaine grumbled simultaneously.

"I am not so sure about that" Percival added.

"Yeah, even though they argue all the time Merlynn is always next to Arthur" Freya said adding to Percival point.

"Then we don't ask him. We make sure everything is ready then we tell them the night before that Lancelot has come up with the idea of going camping with Gwaine and Merlynn" Leon said coming up with a plan

"This won't be the first time they have gone camping just the three of them" Morgan interjected, realizing where Leon was going with this plan

"He can't exactly say no without explaining himself" Gwaine grinned realizing that the plan might actually work

"Neither can Merlynn" Lancelot contributed,

"Are we really planning on strong arming our friends into spending time apart?" Gwaine asked slightly shocked about the plan now that she was thinking about it clearly.

"I guess we are… however it can't be any worse than leaving them together" Freya stated confident that they were doing the right thing.

:::x:::


	8. Dreams, Traps & Bad Ideas

Gwen's life consisted of being constantly terrified; each sunrise brought about the possibility of being found out and each sunset brought about dreams that cemented the fact that she was a witch. She was petrified of going to sleep, of having another dream that would undoubtedly come true sooner or later.

She began wishing that her days lasted longer; started procrastinating when it came to her nightly duties, hoping that she could spend an extra hour working not going home, not going to bed.

Her dream were never a constant flow of event it was more like looking at a shattered plate; she only saw the piece of what was going to happen, she never saw the whole thing until they had began to unfold in her real life.

She had taken to cleaning the house multiple times during any given night, something her father had noted but refused to comment on, though she was sure that it was just a matter of time before he enquired her about her behaviour.

Unfortunately for her, others had began to notice Gwen's unusual behaviour as of late; Morgana had mentioned it also, so had Freya and Lancelot; the latter had taken to asking her a series of questions to make sure she was in good health. He had even pulled Morgana aside to ask her to reduce Gwen's workload something she certainly had not appreciated considering she wanted more work in the hopes of becoming to tired to even dream.

The _worst_ part was that her dreams weren't consistent; the would stop for a while lolling her into a false sense of security, making her believe that she had imagine the whole thing _then_ they would come back.

Actually that had been a lie the worse part of the whole experience is the crippling fear of being found out, that at any moment she may be arrested, her dad may have to see her die, that one of the knights, people she considers to be friends, will come around the corner accuse her of witchcraft then drag her off to jail and none of this was her fault.

She hadn't woken up one morning deciding to become a witch, she hadn't gone out studying sorcerer, in fact she had spent her whole life in Camelot, following the rules, being a loyal citizen and now because of something she didn't want, something she couldn't control, despite all the years of being a loyal servant in the royal court; none of it mattered she would still be executed.

Gwen began realising the unfairness of Uther's reign. She began seeing the tyranny of his actions; he was a man that has killed mere children because of suspicion of witchcraft. She would be viewed as no different from those that went out of their way to destroy Camelot; Uther was going to paint her with the same brush as them.

::x::

The gang casually announced the idea to Merlynn and Arthur two days later after knight training; they hadn't been sure had either one of them would take it and the knights had voted to tell Arthur _after_ the training in case he went homicidal over the suggestion and tried to kill them.

Trying to gauge their reaction was like trying to figure out what was on Hunith's mind if she wasn't talking; neither Merlynn or Arthur seem to give nothing away.  
In fact if he was to guess Percival would say that the idea had shocked all thoughts out of their mind.  
Both just stood there alternating between staring at the group and each other for the last five minutes, something that had began to creep Percival out; all they had said was that Merlynn was going to be going away for a week and suddenly his friends were acting like the undead.

They watched as Arthur reached out grabbing on to Merlynn and began to slowly move away; something that fascinated them since Arthur had reacted on instinct he hadn't grabbed onto Merlynn's arm but had reached for her hands besides he didn't drag her away instead he had gently pulled her towards him.

::x::

No matter what anyone else thought Arthur had also grown tired of the constant fighting with Merlynn; most of the time he didn't even mean to start one. All he knew was whenever he was alone with Merlynn in his room the ended up either arguing or ignoring each other; in fact whenever he was in his room he always felt angry at Merlynn, so he had taken to avoiding that place something that had proven to be difficult considering he slept there.

It had definitely help that the knights had told them about their plan when they were away from his bedroom.

Walking further afield to a place he knew no visited due to one of his many childhood exploits Arthur finally stopped and began to speak  
"I think that it is a bad idea for you to go with them. In fact it is a bad idea for you to be around the knight all together"

"Arthur" she slipped out on the verge of having a full-blown panic attack. She fought to get through the day as it was but if the rest of her friends were taken away… "You can't do that, they are my friends, I"

"Let me finish, I think that it is a bad idea, a **_terrible_** idea _but _despite knowing that I shouldn't trust you, that I probably shouldn't believe a word that comes out of your mouth… I have no way of keeping you here not without-" Arthur paused for a moment to study thee girl standing in front of him before speaking "I am going to let you go" he forced out nearly choking on the sentence.

He recognised the look of hesitation on Merlynn's face and he accepted it; if the shoe were on the other foot he would be just as apprehensive as she was being.

"Thank you" she said cautiously taking a step forward

Raising his hand he put a stop to her advancement " I said I was letting you go not that I trust you. This is going to be a test of sort; you have a week away, a week to do whatever you like, if within that week Camelot suddenly gets attacked by _anything_ I will know is you. Do not bother coming back because I will come after you. However if nothing happens, if you do decide to come back we can talk; you were saying something about being born this way even though I don't believe you; if you decide to come back I will listen"

"I will come back"

"That remains to be seen; neither Gwaine or Lancelot knows about you, you will be out of Camelot, this is the perfect opportunity to strike or even to take Cenred up on his offer and leave. Go and pack Merlynn you are leaving tomorrow."

:::x:::

Arthur had gone around putting various part of the plan into place; the trap was set he just had to wait to see if he caught a witch without her knowing.

Merlynn believed he was trusting her to leave and he was, except he made sure in the event of Merlynn deciding to use her magic against Camelot he could react quickly; some guards had already been ordered to follow Merlynn the next day when she left until she returned, Hunith had been moved from the lower town to the castle, messengers had been dispatched to villages to report any usual or magical sightings.  
He was ready and all he had to do was sit back and see if Merlynn did anything.

Plus he still had Cenred's parting words roaming around in his head; it had mimicked the dragon's too much for his comfort.

Arthur had spent the last few days torn between the two possibly meaning of the words; it could be that they were trying to warn him from doing something too stupid and turning Merlynn against him, assuming that she actually wasn't against him despite being a witch. But the word could also mean that it was already too late Merlynn was plotting against Camelot.

Either way the only solution he could come up with was to give Merlynn some space and see what she did with it; she could either do nothing proving to still be Merlynn or she could use this time to contact whoever proving that he had been right and _finally_ _shutting up_ the part of him the questioned the very idea of Merlynn being anything but Merlynn.

::x::

The next morning Gwen had stood there, silently watching as Merlynn, Gwaine and Lancelot rode out of Camelot hoping and fearing that last night dreams wouldn't come true.

That the next time she saw those Gwaine and Lancelot they would be riding back with a conscious, uninjured, healthy Merlynn; _not_ the one from the dream.

As surely as the sun was going to rise again; the trio were already on danger; in a few short days a messenger would burst through the door of Camelot's court to report a sighting of a magical creature causing Arthur to leave to hunt said creature. Whatever was going to happen will leave Merlynn on death's door.


	9. The Messenger

With reviews like these how can a girl disappoint people; no waiting for the next chapter; here you go…

Just as Gwen predicated, a messenger had exploded into Camelot's court with news of some type of magical creature having been terrorizing the outer villages of Camelot. A few days after Lancelot, Gwaine and Merlynn had left.

The panic that had been caused with the badly timed, ill delivered message was enough to ensure that Uther cleared out the court with only a few people remaining; Gaius, Arthur, the knights, Morgana and Gwen being Morgana's maidservant and Hunith had been requested by Gaius to be allowed to stay as she was his assistant.

Everyone present waited patiently as the terrified man blundered over his words trying to give as detailed a description as he could yet failing to give any type of concrete information.

"They have been reports of a creature terrorizing the outer village my lord; it is said to go into hiding in the forest during the day and attacks at sun down."

"How did you come about this information" Uther questioned

"I was sent to patrol the outer villages by the Prince, your highness"

Arthur noted the surprised look on his father's face and decided offering up an answer now would make things easier in the long run "I noticed that we hadn't patrolled those parts of Camelot in some time. It would take them some time to get information to reach us so I sent a couple of men to survey the outer villages"

Uther seemed to agree with that and nodded his head indicating that the messenger should continue his story "I met a villager who was making their way to Camelot, their village had been terrorized by a creature so I came to report it"

"What type of creature is it?" Uther asked Gaius as if such a description was meant to be useful; there were literally thousands of creatures that fitted that vague account

"I have to do some research, sire. It could be a number of things from a lion to a cat to a manticore"

"I will take my men out tonight" Arthur said glad he had thought to but up safety measures in place it would making finding Merlynn all the more easier. His words had gained a nod of approval from the King something he had missed all together through his musings.

"Sire if I may, I will only need the night to question the messenger further and to find out what creature it is. It would be unwise to charge into battle with a sword when all you may need is a flower to defeat such creature" Gaius pleaded trying to prevent Arthur from acting rashly.

"You have until tomorrow morning to report any new information that you have gathered." Uther spoke addressing his court physician. Turning to look at his son " You can start getting ready; you leave at first light tomorrow".

The word _Sire_ rang out through the court several times as various people started taking their leave.

:x:

Arthur stormed off in the directions of the weapon room; he had given her a chance and she hadn't shown where her loyalties truly lied.

Less than two days and she was already attacking Camelot; he had warned her of what was to happen.

Slowing his steps, he turned to draw out his sword ready to attack the person that had been trailing after him since he had left the court.

"Sire, sire is me" one of the messengers he had sent to spy of Merlynn came out of the shadows, like an idiot he may add. Who in their right mind crawled around in the shadows when trailing a knight; it was the easiest way to get stabbed, plus it drew more attention to the individual.

"What news do you bring for me?" Arthur questioned.

"Nothing yet, you told us to report in every day. So far they keep talking about heading to a tavern where they met three years ago. It seems that Merlynn and Hunith had gone in to get some lunch but some men inside ambushed them so Gwaine was forced to defend them but he got injured then Hunith and Merlynn escaped with him. They met Lancelot who couldn't let an injured man and two women go to Camelot alone like that especially if he was coming to train as a knight so he decided to join them and-"

"How is this relevant?"

"You told us to report back to _every thing_ they do and say, they have been talking about they past quite a lot since they are deciding on whether to go back to the tavern"  
"Do you have any useful information" Arthur hissed, questioning the mental functioning of the man standing before him.

"No. They are just camping"

"Merlynn hasn't separated from either Lancelot or Gwaine since they left? Not even for a minute?"  
"No, actually Gwaine and Lancelot refuse to let Merlynn out of their sight, well except to pee and personal hygiene" the man continued blushing. "Not that we saw or looked or-"

Arthur felt the overwhelming need to strangle the guy standing in front of him; here he was trying to work out if this attack had anything to do with Merlynn and he was babbling on about inconsequential things.

"Oh you are worried about the animal attack, no need sire, I am sure Gwaine and Lancelot will protect her plus they are on the other side of forest…. Although if they do go to the tavern they will probably meet whatever creature that is" John finished now slightly worried about the group camping out in the forest.

"If that is all you can make your way back to the others, and keep a close eye on the group for me" Arthur said dismissively.

"Sire we are not sure but we think that both Gwaine and Lancelot knows about us trailing them"

"Does Merlynn?"

"No, the only reason the boys have noticed is because they have been trained… is really sweet how you care for her" John added as an afterthought, he knew everyone on his team thought so too.

"Leave. NOW" Arthur barked watching the man scurry away before leaving himself. Where did they guy go off guessing something so ridiculous, they weren't trailing after Merlynn because he was worried about her safety, they were doing it because he was worried about theirs.

::x::

Hunith moved, blocking Arthur's path preventing the prince from leaving. "I know what you think, I can see it in your eyes but Merlynn had nothing to do with these attacks"

"I highly doubt that" Arthur stated, he did not have enough courage to actually be disrespectful to Hunith

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you know about Merlyn's secret but this couldn't have been her; these attacks started a week ago and she just left two days ago plus the spy you sent to trial after her has reported to them being on the other side of the woods. Give her a chance. Trust her." Hunith moved away slowly.

She had said all that she needed to for today everything else could wait for another day now wasn't the time to make her opinions known that would come later when Arthur wasn't planning on killing Merlynn.

::x::

Several people in Camelot had spent the previous night feeling agitated and unable to sleep; Gaius had been unfortunate in his dealings with the messenger because he was now certain that the creature there were dealing with was borne of magic.

Hunith was worried about her daughter and adopted sons out there with no knowledge of a dangerous creature, furthermore this attack will make it all the more dangerous for Merlynn to be in Camelot as Uther paranoia increased with every attack.

Arthur had been too busy preparing to hunt down the creature, then Merlynn herself to be able to sleep and Gwen had the worst night of all; she had spent most of the night analyzing every action she had undertaken during the previous day- trying to see if she could have warned the trio without revealing her magic in turn probably saving Merlynn's life- only to have finally fall asleep at day break and have her dreams plagued by images of a bruise, battered and bloody Merlynn.

All four now stood on Camelot's court awaiting the king's order. Uther sat on the throne awaiting the physician findings as to what type of creature was now terrorising his Kingdom

"Did the messenger share any new information?" Uther inquired to a rather nervous looking Gaius

"From the way it has been described, I would think it is a Griffin; a creature born of magic… that can only be defeated by magic." Gaius hesitated to add knowing the King's stand against magic, even if it was to help the people.

"No you **will** find _another_ way," Uther demanded. For a man that hated magic, he certainly thought that by demanding a new solution one would appear from thin air as if by _magic_ Percival thought recognising the irony.  
"Until then Arthur the rest of the Knights can go and kill this creature" Uther said calmly as if he hadn't just ordered his sons death.

Gaius stood there deciding to stay quite, any more words would just have fallen on deaf ears, plus any words would be considered treason from this point. The only solution he had was to talk to Arthur before he left.

"I assume all the preparation have been finished and that you are ready to ride out" Uther said directing his comment at Arthur

"Yes sire"

"Good. You should try to find the other two knights in the forest as well" Uther stated in such a way effectively dismissing everyone.

::x::

"Arthur wait" Gaius called out running down the steps of Camelot

Arthur who had been ready to leave right that second sat on his horse waiting for the court physician to make his way down the steps, moving slightly he commanded the other knights to go ahead.

"Gaius" he stated as a way of greeting when the man had eventually reached him.

"This creature can only be killed by magic if you try to fight it I fear you will end up dead, you all will."

"What do you suggest I do? I am against the use of magic, it is a crime punishable by death"

"Yet you allow it to exist in Camelot" Gaius stated giving Arthur a pointed look, lowering his voice for fear of someone over hearing their conversation he continued "Magic may be against the laws of Camelot but you have already allowed it to exist here; if you had wanted you could have told the king the truth when he questioned what was going on between Merlynn and yourself a couple of weeks ago. You could just have easily told the king about Merlynn at any time but you haven't because you know that magic in itself does not make a person evil, no matter how much you try to deny it"

"What do you want?" Arthur questioned choosing to ignore the valid set of argument Gaius had presented before him

Pulling out a piece of paper from his shirt pocket Gaius handed it over "I want to prevent a massacre from happening; every single one of your men will die if you try to fight the Griffin. Find Merlynn first and give this to her; it is the spell that can stop the Griffin." Gaius stepped away from Arthur and his horse and watched as he left Camelot, he had done all he could.

Everything now rested on the whether Arthur would willing seek out Merlynn to ask her to perform magic.


	10. Battle Plans

Arthur had the group of knights ride at a neck breaking sped throughout the day barley stopping to eat and only resting the horses as Leon insistence.

They had taken the most direct route and was able to arrive at the tavern only a few hours after lunch; Arthur was surprised and at a lost of what to do when it became clear that Merlynn was not in sight, in fact there was no customer in the building, he had to assume that they were just running late.

Hopefully they had decided to come to the tavern today because he needed all the men he could get, moreover the piece of paper Gaius had handed over to him was weighing him down more than anything else he was wearing; including his chain mail and breast plate.

By the time Leon and the rest of the knights had walked in Arthur had already commandeered the tavern and had cleared out the owner after reimbursing him and ordering him to disappear for the day.

The man was only too happy to be out of the place, news had spread of the creature and he knew that it had attacked a village less than five miles from here and it was making it's way in this direction. The creature would have been upon him as soon as the sun had set, so if having his pub seize by some knight was the price to pay to be rid of the creature, he was more than willing to pay it.

Arthur stood in the middle of the now deserted pub briefly wondering if he shouldn't be following suit, if Gaius was right and he usually was this was nothing short of a suicide mission. Worse, this was genocide because not only was he about to get himself killed he was dragging seventeen other men to their deaths.

Merlynn was now their only hope, she was the only thing that stood before them and certain death; hopefully she could arrive before sunset, or he would have to enter the battlefield without her.

In any case, he still had to come up with a plan of attack for defeating the Griffin whether Merlynn was there or not.

::x::

Merlynn woke up on the third day feeling ecstatic, which was a welcomed change after spending the last two days twitching at every noise, a snap of a twig, the call of a bird, at one point she even convinced herself that she was being followed, but had reassured herself with the fact that Gwaine and Lancelot would have noticed this before her.

Lancelot had been right she needed time away from Camelot… away from Arthur, the further she moved away from both the more secure she felt. Mostly due to the fact that she was no longer a stone throw away from being killed at any given time.

Arthur behavior wasn't down to just him, she herself had spent the last two months feeling despondent, and being resigned to every action Arthur had done, if she had said something earlier or stop him things would never have gotten so bad.  
Then again with Arthur constantly threatening her or her mum she hardly had much choice than to let him behave the way he wanted to.

The situation was never going to improve if he was not comfortable with magic, they never talked about it, always skirting around the issue, speaking in code as if that will erase the fact that Merlynn was a witch.

If the prophecy were true, magic would one-day reign in the whole of Albion because of herself and Arthur so the sooner Arthur get used to the idea of magic the quicker that would happen.

"I could start using her magic around Arthur" she mused aloud whilst reheating the soup that Gwaine had made the previous night for dinner.

It wasn't like he didn't know about it plus if she started off with small stuff she could eventually get him used to it so that he would not equate magic with evil.

Before she could think of the more ideas, which probably would not have worked out, since she was being too optimistic, Gwaine walked out of his own tent and was already talking before he had taken more than ten steps.

"So are we going to go to the tavern or is it just two more days of traipsing around the forest cause we could go back to Camelot."

"It has only been two days, you can't miss Freya that much… or are you missing the tavern?" Merlynn asked because it was probably going to be a flip of a coin when it came to which one Gwaine loved more; Freya or alcohol.

"If I am to go without seeing Freya for a week, then, the least you can do is get me drunk enough not to notice"

Lancelot had walked back to the clearing while Gwaine was speaking, having woken up before the others to go get the branches and logs needed to start the morning fire. "How am I known to be the romantic one when Gwaine is the one that can't go two days without Freya unless he is too drunk to notice?"

"Because, Gwaine would have gotten drunk either way, he is just using Freya as an _excuse_" Merlynn offered handing the pot of food over to Gwaine to distribute while she went to arrange the fire wood Lancelot had just deposited onto the ground in a haphazard way. "We could always cut the trip short and go back to Camelot, if we leave now we can make it back before sun set." She offered knowing the reason behind this trip was because she had been feeling and acting strangely, but she felt better now.

Merlynn was too busy re-arranging the firewood to notice the look that passed between Gwaine and Lancelot; they had agreed to talk to Merlynn today, finally questioning her on what had been happening for the past two months.

Both had noticed the change in their friend, even though she acted as if someone was about to attack her at any moment, which was justified as they were surrounded by other knights wherever they went, she was still much happier and appeared to be less restricted than she had been at Camelot, therefore going back to Camelot any earlier than necessary was not something they planned to do.

"We have a week away from Camelot, so a week away we shall spend and isn't our tavern closer than Camelot?"

"Since when did that place become _our_ tavern" Merlynn questioned

"Since I nearly died rescuing you and boy wonder of there" Gwaine said nodding his head in Lancelot direction "came to save us"

"I didn't come to save you, I came to save two ladies in distress, not two ladies and a drunk" Lancelot teased settling down on the ground with his breakfast

"I knew it, there is no way a man is as _noble_ as you, remind me to correct people when the call you the 'brave and noble knight'. You only came to help because you thought you had a chance with Merlynn, come on admit it"

Merlynn sat there taking in the view, watching as Lancelot blushed so fiercely his face was turning as red as a tomato.

"Merlynn will you start eating already I want to get to the tavern by noon" Gwaine continued switching focus from Lancelot.

The group had packed up and left shortly after having their breakfast, in search for 'their' tavern having only stopped for lunch. The search had eaten up most of their day, with the sun set to set in a few hours; they had found the tavern through sheer luck since both Gwaine and Lancelot couldn't agree on which direction to go.

The sight that meet the trio ignited a mixture of confusion, dread and mindless panic as they were meet by a group of Camelot's knight surrounding the building.

::x::

Gwaine was the first to get off his horse and was already entering the tavern before anyone could stop him; he had assumed that _this_ was the reason why they had being followed for the past three days by other guards and knights.

Something that still irritated him off and luckily for him the person to blame was standing right in front of him. "What the hell do you think you are doing" Gwen asked slamming his hands over the map Arthur had been looking at.

"Gwaine, you guys are here." Arthur said looking up ready to shout at whoever was interrupting him when he was trying to save their life, until he noticed exactly who had been standing in front of him. If Gwaine was here so was Merlynn, looking past the angry knight in front of him he has expected to see Merlynn "Where's Merlynn?" he asked noticing that she was not in the building.

"Can't your spies tell you that? We got her out of Camelot so she can be **_away_** from **_you_**, not so that you send people to _track_ our every move and _ambush_ us on the _third_ _day_ in a pub" Gwaine was more than ready to punch Arthur in the face, in fact he had been ready for a long time, this just gave him the excuse he needed.

"I am not ambushing you, a Griffin has been conjured up around this area and has been killing people every day at sunset. We are only here to kill it, now where is Merlynn"

"What do you need her for?" Gwaine quizzed no longer trusting Arthur to be in the same room as Merlynn by himself, especially without causing harm.

"Gaius said that Merlynn had borrowed the main book that talked about the Griffin a couple of weeks ago, since he couldn't find it in time he had hoped that Merlynn could remember some of the things she had read, maybe there is another way to kill the creature"

"So why don't you go outside and just ask her."

"Because this is hard enough on everyone without giving the false hope, Merlynn may not have gotten to read about the Griffin yet, nor may there be a way to defeat them so I would rather speak to her in private so that I don't give any of the men false hope" Arthur snapped partially because if the lie had been true Gwaine would have been wasting time and also because Gwaine was actually wasting time.  
"We have about an hour before sunset so the quicker I talk to her the better. Can you please tell her to come inside… and try not to draw attention to the fact."

::x::

Gwaine walked back out to where Merlynn and Lancelot were now standing talking to the other knight and finally learning about the Griffin.

Gwaine gently reached for Merlynn and dragged her away so that their conversation would not be over heard. The second step of footsteps indicated that Lancelot was following them through the forest.

"Now is the time to tell us what is going on" Gwaine demanded "because for some reason Arthur thinks that I am stupid enough to fall for one of his lies after all this time"

"I can't" Merlynn stated fidgeting with the sleeve of her dress.

"That is no longer good enough" Lancelot calmly stated masking the fact that he felt like shaking her "We have spent two months being in the dark to whatever is going on, it is important enough to affect your relationship with Arthur"

Merlynn stood there for a moment choosing her words carefully before replying "I can't tell you **now** but I will one day" noticing that neither were willing to let the matter go she added "This thing was big enough to change my relationship with Arthur you must be sure you want to know." The sentence lay in between them as they digested it.

"Why did you tell Arthur?" Lancelot wondered.

"Because I needed to" she replied after all this had all started because of her gut feeling urging her to tell Arthur the truth.

"But you don't need to tell us?" Gwaine questioned slightly hurt.

"I do, just not- I knew telling Arthur was going to be bad but I didn't expect it to get this far. What if I tell you and the same thing happens to us… what if it goes this far again." Merlynn asked talking to herself mostly than the two men standing in front of her

A silence fell over the group as each person considered said scenario in their head; was it really that important to know especially if finding out the secret could cause them to lose their friendship.

"You can tell us when you are ready" Gwaine stated having come to the decision that he still needed to know, as the secret was important enough that she thought it could destroy their friendship, however he didn't need to know right this moment. "You should go back, Arthur want to talk to you." He said finally delivering the message.

:::x:::

Arthur did not get his chance to speak to Merlynn, as Leon had walked back in stating that it was already time to leave. The rest of the knight had gone about and laid down traps while Arthur had tried to come up with a decent plan of attack.

Their number had increased from the original eighteen to twenty-four with the Gwaine, Merlynn and Lancelot coming; plus the three guards he had sent to follow them.

"We need to divide into six groups, with each group starting from a different point in the forest and work their way inwards" Arthur stated before starting to allocate each knight to different groups of three's before turning to Gwaine and putting him in Leon's team as he needed to keep an eye on Merlynn and make sure she got the note from Gaius, which presumable contained the spell needed.

"I am not sure if you noticed but Merlynn is the third member of this group so Lancelot and I will accompany her. ALONE." Gwaine stated from the exact same spot, not moving an inch away from Merlynn, despite having been given clear, precise orders.

"I need you to go with Leon" Arthur repeated.

"Why don't _you_ go with Leon, I am not moving from Merlynn's side" the hard steel behind Gwaine voice was purposefully goading Arthur into trying to disagree with the statement.

"Fine be stubborn, _Lancelot,_ I need you to go with Leon" Arthur instructed expecting the other knight to obey as he was less likely to have a problem with the allocation.

"I would rather stay with Merlynn" Lancelot stated stepping closer to her, creating a literal barrier between Merlynn and Arthur

"This is a three man operation go with Leon." Arthur repeated yet again

"We can easier turn the group into six groups of fours. It will work just the same," John suggested seeing as neither men were willing to leave the girl's side nor was the prince willing to be any other group that did not involve Merlynn

"Fine everyone get into teams of four" Arthur stated before stomping off into the dark.

::x::

Arthur found himself trailing behind Gwaine and Lancelot as the walked ahead creating a two man barrier between him and Merlynn, something told him that trying to go around them would not have been the best idea he ever had. Even Lancelot looked about ready to slam him into the ground, never mind the fact that Gwaine kept _not so subtly_ grazing his hands across his sword ever time he though Arthur had gotten too close.

He hadn't known just how guarded she had gotten around him until that afternoon when he had seen her with her guard down for that tiny millisecond before she had notice him standing in front of her.

He became noticing more signs like how weight she had lost, the dress she had bought less than six months ago was now hanging off her body.

His thoughts was abruptly halted by the sounds of clashing metal and men screaming; it seems like the other knights had found the Griffin first.

All four broke into a run stumbling through the las of the undergrowth in the forest only to realise that they had been last to arrive on the scene of what could only be describe as a massacre; most of other knights were either dead or badly injured.


	11. The Griffin

The Griffin stood in a small clearing it had made by slamming its body against the surrounding trees until they had fallen, some having fallen on top of some knights.

"Gwaine, Lancelot drag as many men as you can away from this place, we can't have them being injured again" Arthur ordered them away drawing out his sword, if Merlynn was about to use magic he did not need any witness to it.

Gwaine and Lancelot swiftly moved away trying to help as many of their fallen comrades as they could; both of them had been so focused on the task of dragging the injured men away from the path of the Griffin, that it had not registered in their mind that they had just left Merlynn at the forefront of the battle.

Arthur moved to circle around the half –lion, half-eagle monstrosity looking to find it's weak point, as far as he could tell it had none; it had the strength of a lion, the swiftness of an eagle and it could _fly_.

"Whatever spell you are going to do, now will be a good time to start doing it."

Merlynn didn't have time to make a snarky comment at that moment as the Griffin had zeroed in on the only two people standing up.

:x:

Merlynn got up the shield to protect them just in time for the Griffin to run into and bounce off what seemed to be thin air; the thing stood as tall as a building and was already pawing the ground ready to charge at them.

"Arthur, I don't have the spell to-" Merlynn began not taking her eyes off the Griffin.

"Gaius gave me the spell, I think" Arthur said slowly reaching for the piece of paper in his left pocket, trying not to draw any attention to himself. In reality Arthur had not bothered to look at the paper since it had been given to him, for all he knew Gaius could have ordering Merlynn to stay safe.

Merlynn looked down at the thin piece of scrap paper that Arthur had just handed to her and realized two problems already. "Arthur, we may be in trouble here" she stated

"And here I was thinking that we that we should go swimming" Arthur barked sarcastically.

"I am glad you can be sarcastic at a time like this" Merlynn hissed talking a couple of steps to her right, away from Arthur, and sure enough the Griffin was still staring exclusively at her. "The Griffin is going to try to kill me so if I die…." She left the rest unsaid because it didn't need saying.

"Then don't die." Arthur stated as if it was the easiest thing in the world to do with a Griffin standing in front of you. "Keep the shield up and do the spell"

"I _can't_ that's the _second_ problem; the spell is too _complicated_ for me to be doing _another_ one at the same time, if I start the second spell the shield will weaken and the Griffin will try to kill me and if I am dead..." again she left the rest unsaid.

"Why can't you do two spells at the same time" Arthur asked

"**_Now_** isn't the time for me to teach you about magic" Merlynn stated.

The griffin seemed to have grown tired of staring at them was now flapping his wings throwing debris, rock and trees at them.

"Merlynn we need to _kill_ the Griffin before anyone **see** **you** using **_magic_**. I will distract the Griffin and make sure he has his back to you, you can drop the shield then do whatever spell you need to" Arthur instructed having already moved away before Merlynn could protest, he even left his sword with her hoping it would make her feel safer. No matter what ideals he held he was not going to leave Merlynn defenseless especially when she was trying to save Camelot.

On the other hand, his action had left him completely defenseless; he just needed to get one of the many swords that had fallen to the ground before the Griffin charged at him.

How hard could that possibly be, there was one less than twenty feet away.

:x:

Gwen and Lancelot has spent what seemed like an eternity dragging their comrades away from the battle field, trying to pile them all in one location so that the less seriously injured could assist the others, because they were not **all** seriously injured.

Gwaine had categorized the less seriously injured as having several broken ribs and only were dropping in and out of consciousness. He had counted sixteen men injured that meant another group, probably Leon's, were safe and had yet to come across the Griffin.

Breaking through the clearing Gwaine and Lancelot were astounded by the sight that greeted them, because unless _both_ of them were hallucinating or having the _exact same dream_ they were looking at Arthur fighting a Griffin while Merlynn enchanted his sword.

"Merlynn is-" Lancelot began  
"Is this the reason why-" Gwaine muttered.

Neither of the managed to finish their sentence as the stood there flabbergasted, they didn't even move to help Arthur who was busy fighting the Griffin because Merlynn, their Merlynn was a witch.

A full-blown sorcerer, one who was enchanting a sword to fight a Griffin.

::x::

Merlynn had spent the last ten minutes trying to keep the enchantment on Arthur's sword long enough for him to slay the Griffin; the first few times she had tried not happened before the sword had started glowing.

Whoever had summon the Griffin was strong, unnaturally so, the whole clearing was covered with their magic. To summon a Griffin required a great amount of magical power, but to do so for seven consecutive days…. Whoever was doing this was extremely powerful.

The Griffin stopped attacking Arthur for a moment staring directly at the sword in his hands as if it knew that someone was enchanting it, it swung around to the clearing before his eyes landed on Merlynn, staring directly at her.

She was now certain that the creature knew she was using magic and was most likely planning to kill her, if the way it was glaring at her was any indication.

Merlynn was at a loss on what to do, stop the spell on Arthur new sword and throw up the shield, try to enchant the sword Arthur had left behind, though she suspected she could finish in time before she was attacked… or continue with the spell and make sure that even if something happens to her Arthur's sword will stay enchanted.

::x::

Arthur had stood still hesitating for a split second unsure of what to do, there was no way to get to Merlynn in time, he couldn't risk throwing the sword especially if it missed it would not only leave him defenseless, yet again, but the only weapon able to kill the Griffin would be on the other side of the clearing and with a Griffin between him and it he would be dead.

By the time he had come to a decision less than a second before starting the Griffin had already used it's wings to catch Merlynn across the chest sending her careering towards the trees.

Merlynn was too busy adapting the spell to ensure Arthur's sword would stay enchanted for the next half an hour that she hadn't realized that she had been hit not until she noticed the trees zooming past her as she flew through the air; right before colliding with an oak tree, blissfully blacking out.

Gwaine and Lancelot had broken out of their stupor and into a run when the Griffin had rounded on Merlynn but had gotten thrown back several feet from the force of the Griffin's wing moving.

::x::

Leon and his group had come across the clearing just as Arthur had struck the Griffin with his sword; no one had notice the green glow surrounding the sword.

Arthur hadn't even waited to check if the creature was dead before sprinting across the clearing to where Merlynn's body laid, not only had she been hit with the full force of the Griffin's wings but the subsequent debris that had stirred up had also cut across various part of her body.

She now lay as bruise, broken and battered as Gwen's dreams.


	12. The Aftermath

I have used artist license at the end of the story; plus is an AU I can make stuff up. Also sorry for any spelling mistakes it is past midnight but I still wanted to post this

:::::::::::::::::::::::

The group rode hard and fast, trying to reach Camelot before any more men succumbed to their injuries; out of the twenty-four men that had enter the forest only _four_ had managed to remain _completely_ uninjured; Leon and the other three people in his group as they had not encountered the Griffin; everyone else had been injured in someway shape or form.

A total of seven people had died and the rest were seriously injured; Merlynn was so badly wounded that Leon was terrified that she would not have even made it to Camelot. Although she had a better chance of survival than any of the injured men he traveled with as Lancelot and Gwaine had bolted for Camelot earlier in order to save her life.

::x::

Gwen stood on the stair of Camelot and quietly observed as another dream came to past; just like she saw Gwaine and Lancelot would ride back with a broken Merlynn after four days away from Camelot.

The timeline seem too short, too much had happened but it still was only four days; the trio had left on the first day, the messenger had come during twilight on the second day to report sightings of the Griffin, Arthur had left on the morning of the third day and whatever had happen had injured Merlynn so here they were on the morning of the fourth day with Gaius tending to Merlynn.

Gwen hadn't been able to warn her friend, but she had managed to convince Morgana for some days off in order to help Gaius restock on medicine, as those who would come back from fighting the Griffin would surely be injured.

If only she could have warned them, she could have save Merlynn, her friend would not be lying up stairs dying. If only magic wasn't out lawed.

::x::

Gwaine and Lancelot had been thrown out of the physician's room as soon as they had handed Merlynn over and they now sat on the floor just outside the room.

Both were so lost in their own world that they had not noticed the arrival of Morgana and Gwen, nor had they noticed the question either of the girls had asked or the fact that both girls had been trying to tend to their injuries for the past ten minutes.

They sat there on the other side of the physician's door scared that Merlynn won't survive.

Lancelot agonized over every detail, every action, every words he had said since leaving four days ago; if he hadn't insisted on going to the tavern, they would never had met Arthur, she would never had had to fight the Griffin, they would still be in the forest, uninjured, safe and happy.

If he hadn't frozen when he saw her using magic, he could have reacted sooner, he could have fought the griffin.

The biggest regret he had, apart form going to the tavern in the first place, was having to stop for some hours to build a camp fire because the weather had gotten too cold to travel through the night, plus the horses weren't going to be able to make the nine hour journey from the tavern to Camelot without some rest.

Stopping was his biggest regret as it only made Merlynn worse; she became delirious and her fever had broken out causing her to give off more heat than the fire.  
Lancelot was fairly sure that Merlynn wasn't only off her physical injuries but a magical one as well, the wound across her chest from where the Griffin wings had cut across her refused to show any sign of healing plus, Merlynn eyes had kept flashing gold through out the night, as if she was still in the middle of a fight.

Lancelot really hope that Gaius could save Merlynn because he didn't think anyone would be the same without her; especially Hunith, the woman had let out such a mournful cry when they had walked in carrying Merlynn that Lancelot had looked around expecting to see a creature dying.

::x::

Arthur just kept replaying the moment the Griffin had struck Merlynn sending her flying towards the tree and the sickening thud that followed; it was all he could do not to have picked her up; she looked so weak and broken, in _that moment_ she wasn't Merlynn the _witch_, she was just Merlynn his _friend_… someone **he** had put in danger… someone who could be dying because she helped him, helped Camelot.

The only reason that he hadn't reached for her was because Gwaine and Lancelot were already by her side and was moving her away, already leaving to take her back to Camelot.

He wouldn't have been able to leave, not with so many people being injured or killed during the battle. He had to stay to help the rest of the men make their way to Camelot, he had to help carried the dead back.

Merlynn had Gwaine and Lancelot, she would be safe, she had magic it could heal herself; she had left earlier so her injuries would be less severe.

Gaius would heal her… these were all the lies he had told himself as he rode back to Camelot.

::x::

News had spread of the defeat of the Griffin by the time Arthur and Leon had arrived in Camelot some hours after Gwaine and Lancelot had; they were met with cheers and shout of jubilation from all the citizen who had lined the streets.

Before Arthur had even reached half way up the castle steps, let alone the front door a guard had already accosted him informing him that the king had wanted to see him.

"Arthur glad to see that you are okay" Uther voiced, the relief that flooded his system was so profound that his body would have sagged had he not been any other man but the King. "I heard that you managed to slay the Griffin single handedly. This cause for a celebration not only are we rid of the Griffin, you have managed to prove that magic is not needed to slay the creature… no doubt lies sorcerers have spread about trying to make us think that we need them"

Arthur panicked for a moment after realizing that what the king said was true, well part of it was true, because he had slayed the Griffin people now thought that it could be done without magic, no one knew about Merlynn, so now a deluded man will try to kill any more Griffin that turned up without magic,

"Sire men have died, some are still seriously injured, now is not the time to be celebrating" Arthur pleaded. What was his father thinking, people were dead, Merlynn was still unconscious after saving Camelot and here was the King announcing a week's worth of celebration.

"We have only just arrived back, I haven't yet been seen to by Gaius, families have yet to be told of the death of their loved one" Arthur continued trying to reason with a man who knew no reason.

"That is exactly why we must celebrate, where others have failed, you have prevailed…" Uther could not keep the pride out of his voice even if he had wanted to "Don't worry the celebration is set to start in a few days time, there will be neighboring kingdoms visiting, it will also give you plenty of time to inform the family. Go see Gaius, take whatever potions, you are to rest for the rest of the week, I am sure that you duties can be put on hold for that long"

::x::

Gwaine and Lancelot were no longer sitting outside Gaius's door by the time Arthur had arrived, in fact Gaius was seeing the last of the injured men when Arthur had walked through the door, having spent hours roaming the castle after speaking to his father it was now late evening.

Even Hunith was not in the room because Gaius had kicked her out about an hour before hand so she could go home to rest; the woman had had a lot to deal with today and Gaius was not about to let her stay up all night fretting when she had already done so for the last four nights. She would be no good to anyone let alone Merlynn if she couldn't even stand up.

Gaius watched as the last of the men walked out of his door leaving him and Arthur and an unconscious Merlynn in the room. There wasn't enough room in his quarter for any of the injured men to stay so Gaius had had to send them all to their respective houses with the promise of checking up on them before he went to sleep; some men hadn't even been allowed to leave by themselves and had to be escorted back with one of the palace guards.

Gaius worked on the prince in total silence not feeling the need to be civil or to try to make the boy feel at ease. "When I told you to make the right choice to prevent your men from dying I had thought you would realize that it also included keeping Merlynn safe, especially as she was only there to help you save Camelot.

My words may not mean much to you Arthur, but I can not remember a time when I have been so _disappointed_ by the actions of _one_ _man_ until today, not even when your father placed a ban on magic was I this disappointed, at least he acted out of rage and sorrow."

Gaius had finished patching Arthur up, bandaging his ribs, cleaning out the various cuts across his face and wiping away any remaining blood that had dried up on his face

::x::

Merlynn's magic had jolted inside of her the moment Arthur had walked into the room, causing her to wake up.

She was too exhausted to stay awake, she was still fighting off the effects of the Griffin after the wings had cut into her injecting her with a partial dose of the sorcerer's that conjured it up magic.

Her body had been fighting off the invasion from the moment the foreign magic had entered into her, the closer they had gotten to Camelot the weaker she became; her body was too busy fighting off the magical attack that it was now succumbing to the physical injuries she had sustained.

Through half-opened eyes she looked around wondering why her magic had forced her to wake up, it was then that she noticed Arthur sitting on the examination table as Gaius patched him up.

Arthur was glowing… there was a spell on him right at this very moment, in fact she was beginning to wonder if it was _her_ magic that had awoken her and not the foreign magic reacting, having recognized an on-going spell.

Actually the same dark green glow that indicated that Arthur was being spelled surrounded her as well; but that could be because some of same magic was in her… but it knew she had been spelled as well.

The person that conjured up the Griffin had also managed to place a spell on both of Merlynn and Arthur, and she was too weak to do anything.  
Someone had been attacking Camelot for months now and it would seem that they were about to succeed.

:::::::::::::::::::::

Please let me know what you think, again sorry about the spelling and grammar.

To clarify when the Griffin hit Merlynn with it's wing it caused her to bleed thereby accidentally injected her with magic. Griffins are only conjured up by a sorcerer's magic so it is in essence an embodiment of that person's personal magic so when it hurt Merlynn was bleeding part of the magic entered into her through the open wound.

Please review sorry if I didn't explain how/why Merlynn now has a foreign magic in her well.


	13. Aftermath (2)

Two days after Merlynn had been carried back to Camelot, Gaius still hadn't been able to determine what was going on, all her other wounds have been showing some minor signs of healing however the wound across her chest still remained as open as the day the Griffin had injured her.

Even the stitching he had put in place had vanished within the hour leaving the wound open to all manner of infectious diseases.

Merlynn was in no way strong enough to fight off any type of infection at this stage, not when she had not even regained consciousness, if she even contracted a common cold she may not recover.

Gaius was running himself into the ground; what with the number of men he had to travel around to see because of their various Griffin related injuries, taking care of Merlynn, not to mention his dealings with the members of the court who thought that a contracting the flu required an hour and a half worth of medical examination, plus he had had to set up _another_ physician's room as he couldn't see any of the town's people in the same room as Merlynn for fear that she would contract any illness.

"I put my life in your hands every day, Merlin, as do Arthur and Gwen and all of Camelot, though they may not know it. You're the one who holds the fate of this kingdom in the balance… so _please wake up_" Gaius whispered his plea to the unconscious girl before deciding to go to sleep.

He had hardly slept for the pass three days and it seemed to be catching up with him; closing the book he made his way up to his bed; whatever was wrong with Merlynn had to be magical, that was the only thing that explained why the chest wound refused to heal or allow any time of sealing method, and unfortunately Gaius had not found any indication of what could be going on in his books.

::x::

Early morning of the next day Arthur found himself sitting by Merlynn's bedside yet again, with everything that had been going on, especially with that stupid celebration his father _still_ insisted on throwing- in two days time- despite all the words of warning that had left Arthur's mouth.

It was his responsibility to make sure that Merlynn was recovering okay, after all she had gotten injured in the line of duty; trying to save Camelot.

This meant sneaking into Gaius' room in the middle of the night just to sit with her for a couple of hours- just before dawn- he doubt he would have been able to during normal hours what with the constant flow of visitor she had; Leon, Morgana, Gwaine, Lancelot, Percival every single one of the knight that had survived the attack, a medley of servants that have gotten to know Merlynn then there was Hunith herself who never left Merlynn side unless someone forced her to.

Plus Uther had taken to keeping Arthur quite close to him for the past couple of days; Arthur wasn't sure if it was because he was finally proud of something Arthur had done or if Uther was just realizing that he had sent his son on a dangerous mission so was now keeping an extra eye on him; either way Arthur was staring to get annoyed that his father was constantly in the same place as he was.

Arthur studied Merlynn one more time before getting up to leave, he knew that Merlynn health wasn't improving nor were they worsening but from what George had gathered for him that in itself was considered a miracle; the wound on her chest was still open under the layers of bandages that Gaius had placed around her.

Arthur quietly made his way back to his room replaying the entire event that had happened in the past week, from when he had agreed to Merlynn leaving Camelot to Gaius chastise a few days ago; no matter what Gaius thought Arthur _did_ value his word.

He valued Gaius' word so much, so, that at times he would rather listen to it than that of his father's; to hear a man he respected saying that he was disappointed in him struck a cord within Arthur, one he was having trouble ignoring.

::x::

Lancelot roamed about the castle unable to sleep, everyone around him had been acting strangely as of late; the king had decided to throw a celebration when over half of the men that had gone to battle the griffin had either been injured or killed, Arthur hadn't even bothered to visit Merlynn even though she had placed her life in danger for him, then there was Merlynn herself who was apparently a witch.

Lancelot was convinced that Gwaine had directed all anger that he felt about the situation straight to Arthur and was now planning on murdering Arthur as soon as he could get his hands on him.

No one else's behaviour puzzled him more than Gwen's; she had been acting so out of character for the past few weeks that his fears just kept on increasing every time he saw her; not only has she started losing weight, she kept on acting as if someone was about to hunt her at any given moment; she tried to keep any interactions between them to the bare minimum, her eyes kept on scanning for the different points of exists in any room she occupied, she constantly froze when a group of knights came near her.

The oddest behaviour that Lancelot had caught Gwen doing was when she would suddenly start walking to a destination to stare at random people for a few minutes watching their actions then turning and fleeing in the other direction as if she was running away from a nightmare.

Half way to Gaius's chambers he watched as Arthur skulked by him, acting like a thief in the night, how the man did not realize that he had just passed him was beyond him.

Lancelot continued his journey for before coming to the startling realisation that _Arthur must have been visiting Merlynn_, he was now unsure as what to do with this information, even if he told Gwaine nothing would change, Gwaine was determined to fight Arthur come morning.

At least Lancelot had played his part and had managed to convince Gwaine to enter into the unarmed combat instead of going at Arthur with sword, daggers and every weapon he could lay his hands on.

Friday was certainly going to be an interesting day; with the start of the celebration set to start on that day and Gwaine being set on battling Arthur plus the various royalty would have flooded into Camelot by then; these were the last few moments of piece Lancelot would get for the next week.

::x::

Kilgharrah stood on the rock by the entrance of his personal prison and for the first time in twenty years, since he had been captured, Kilgharrah was worried.

Events were unfolding that were never meant to happen; Merlynn was not meant to have told Arthur about her magic, not this early, Camelot was not meant to be left defenseless.

The future of Albion was about to crumble because he had sat back doing nothing while someone had placed a spell on both Arthur and Merlynn, all because it was a harmless emotion-enhancing spell.  
He had noticed it been placed on Merlynn but the spell was child play, it had just heightened any feeling of anger that she experience so he had let it go.

Kilgharrah hadn't even noticed the spell on Arthur at first; it had just blended seamlessly into him that it had been completely unnoticeable.

There was only one person whose magic could go unnoticed if placed on Arthur… the same person that could continuously conjure up a Griffin for seven straight days…. _Niumeh_ _was back_

If he could not unite the four key players needed to protect Camelot then the kingdom would crumbling by week's end.


	14. Sad tales & Introductions

_Since I am in a __**really good mood**__ and my birthday weekend was amazing, I have decided to upload a chapter today __**And**__ let you guys decide the other two of the four key players (Arthur and Merlynn are obviously the first two) but the last two I can't decide so majority vote wins… there is __Gwaine__, __Lancelot__, __Gwen__, __Modred__, __Morgana__, __Cenred__ & anyone else you think will be a good person to have (I can create an __OC__ if you guys choose that), tell me your two choices through either the reviews or PM me. Thanks._

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Cenred had arrived in Camelot by late Thursday afternoon, in fact the majority of the guest had already arrived with more due to arrive later that night much to Cenred's annoyance.

He did not mind playing nice with a king or two when he had to for the sake of peace but to play nice with this many people for over a week? That may be too much for Cenred to handle especially since Merlynn wasn't even around.

"Where is Merlynn?" Cenred asked Uther but directed his gaze at Arthur especially after noticing the way he had flinched. Cenred really hoped for all their sake that Arthur was just keeping Merlynn away, like last time, because he still thought that the two were conspiring again the kingdom.

He had meant what he said the last time, Merlynn was one of the few people on this Earth he considered to be a true friend and if Arthur had harmed her in any way, he would have him to answer to.

Still waiting for an answer Cenred looked to Uther who strangely enough was just staring at his son with no response coming forth, Arthur for his part had now taken to staring into space avoiding his gaze. From their behavior you would have thought he had just asked which one of them would volunteer to die first.

His annoyance and dislike for the Pendragon's had just tripled in a single second, something was obviously extremely wrong, in the end it had been it had been the fat librarian, Jeffery or something, that had answered him.

"Sad tale indeed the poor girl managed to get herself hurt during the Griffin attack, she hasn't even woken up since she came back. Her poor mother." Geoffrey was oblivious to the tension at the table still managing to talk while stuffing his face with a piece of meat. "She really should count her blessings, when she wakes up, she didn't die like the others… and those were trained knights"

Cenred was surprised that he had managed to excuse himself from the table and casually walk out instead of reaching for the dagger strapped to his thigh and killing Arthur. Once outside the banquet hall he proceeded to ask one of the guards placed outside the directions to the physician's room.

:::x:::

Nimeuh walked through the various stalls set up for the celebration noticing all the changes that had taken place since she had been banished some twenty years ago. If she had had a choice in the matter she would not have set a single foot into Camelot until she was ready to take the crown from Uther's head and chase the man out of the kingdom like the rabid dog that he was.

However all her plans had been halted when someone had managed to defeat the Griffin, at least they hadn't done it without some personal cost to themselves… and to her; part of her magic was now trapped in a foreign body leaving her slightly weaker than normal.  
There was no doubt that her magic was causing as much damage as it could to it's new host's body as it struggle to get out, if the person wasn't dead they would be soon, her magic would have only gotten stronger now that she was in Camelot.

None of these things mattered tomorrow marked the start of the celebration and with it she could start her new job in the palace.

::x::

Gwaine watched as Arthur sat there laughing and eating and smiling and _taking credit for single handedly slaying the Griffin_.

There was absolutely no way that Arthur didn't know about Merlynn; his sword had been glowing green for goodness sake and she was the only other person in the clearing.

Gwaine wasn't sure which annoyed him more the fact that Arthur was down here celebrating while Merlynn laid upstairs beginning to get worse or the fact that the lying arrogant bastard was been praise for something Merlynn did.

Something that nearly cost her, her life yet no one will ever know because of this lying ass. All thoughts of taking precaution tomorrow so that there would be no lasting damage flew out of the window when Arthur opened his mouth _yet again to lie._

:x:

His father had apparently thought that giving him five whole days of respite was more than enough time for him to be up and about celebrating and joining in the festival mood, nonetheless Arthur's feelings of guilt had increased as each day went past, especially after last night.

Not only did he have to sit there lying through his teeth, regaling people of how he single handedly killed the Griffin, but he had to pretend to be _enjoying_ this charade; sure it was good that people believe him, it stopped them from digging too deeply, from finding out about Merlynn.

Nonetheless he couldn't stomach the idea of celebrating so soon after the attack, a mere five days ago, with so many people dead and some still injured, with Merlynn laying upstairs getting worse.

From the single minute he had spent in Gaius's room before being thrown back out by Cenred, Arthur could tell that Merlynn's health had taken a turn for the worse.

__:::

The tournament had started and Gwaine was in high spirit… he had just one objective and he was looking forward to it now all he had to do was take down the seventy odd plus people that had entered into this group fight and make sure that no one took down Arthur… that was his job.

::x::

Gwaine woke up some time after dusk with a massive headache and Lancelot watching over him.

"Before you asked Leon knocked you out" Lancelot said answering the unspoken question on Gwaine's lips, he gently reached over and gave Gwaine the herbal concoction Gaius had left behind to help eased the pain.

"Wait, _Why_?" Gwaine asked truly confused. "Was he even in the tournament? Is he even allowed to do that?"

"It's a no hold unarmed combat, he could do whatever he wanted and after you tackled Arthur into the ground and kept on punching him I think he thought that it was enough…. Can't say I blame him though"

"It is not enough, Merlynn is-" Gwaine words were cut short when he nearly passed out from trying to stand up.

"I know… I know but if he hadn't stopped you Uther would be killing you right now." Lancelot found himself being the voice of reason yet again when it came to his friend. "I didn't stop you because, well because, after everything that she's been through Merlynn needed someone to fight for her, I may not go around trying to beat Arthur but I wasn't going to stop you. _Plus _using the combat as an excuse to kill Arthur won't have made any one happy, least of all Merlynn. If it makes you feel any better you managed to break two of Arthur's ribs before Leon knocked you out"

"What did he knock me out with? A tree?"

"Close enough… a wooden shield" Lancelot grinned

"How is she?" Gwaine asked nervously, just because she had been stable didn't mean that she wouldn't have gotten any worse.

"Worse" Lancelot muttered letting the word hang in the air as they fell into a nerve-wracking silence

::x::

Nimeuh had been making her way up the castle steps when she was nearly knocked over, she had spent all day feeling trapped, Uther had increased the number of guards on patrol because of the previous attack and visiting monarchs.

Although she no longer looked like herself the guards, picking herself up she was preparing to chastise the girl before she noticed that this girl had magic, and not just any magic, the girl was malleable with just the right words and a little friendly guidance, Nimeuh could get this girl to join her cause.

"I am so sorry. Are you okay? I didn't meant to, I wasn't looking at where I was going" Gwen stammered picking the girl she had just knocked over up from the floor. She had been so busy running around like a headless chicken trying complete her job that she barely noticed anything that wasn't a part of her job.

"No, no, is alright. Is my fault really I wasn't paying any attention either. Do you want any help …"

"Gwen" Gwen said rushing to fill in the space "My name is Gwen"

"Nice to meet you Gwen, I am Lily" Nimeuh swiftly introduced herself using the name she had been giving everyone since she started work that morning.

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_Remember to tell me who you think should be the other two key characters needed to protect Camelot; __Gwaine __('Strength'__)__, __Lancelot __('Brave & Loyal'__)__, __Gwen__, __Modred __(Druid, important in the show), __Morgana __(was very important in the t.v series__)__, __Cenred__,__ Elyan __(if Gwen turns evil like intended her brother could be the one to stop her) & anyone else you think will be a good person to have or an __OC__._

Review please also if you can give your reasoning as well I would appreciate it…. Might help me write them into the key player role


	15. Ultimatums & Harsher choices

So here we are, 15 chapters, 26+ k words, 50 reviews, 18 favourites and 38 followers and here we all are 31 days later; thank you for all your reviews. Please keep on helping, PM and reviewing.

Also thank you **Ifdot** for being my beta.

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Gaius had ordered the other men who had entered into the unarmed contest to help get Arthur to his own room after treatment, how the boy could be so stupid as to continue to fight when he was in a state of obvious distress and pain was beyond Gaius.

The boy had still fought till the end, winning the unarmed combat with a set of broken ribs, he could barely breathe without and yet Uther was concerned as to the fact that Arthur would not be able to win the armed combat later on in the day; it was times like these that Uther's harshness to his own son stood out.

::x::

Arthur woke up, around seven the next morning, having been startled by his dream, or rather by an invasion of his dream. Kilgharrah had used the first opportunity available to invade the young prince's dream demanding that he bring Merlynn down to the dungeon immediately, something that annoyed Arthur because for the first time in over a week he had been able to sleep for more than half an hour at a time, mostly thanks to the sleeping potion that Gaius had forced down his neck, and partial because exhaustion had finally caught up to him.

Before he could shuffle more than ten steps out of the door, Cenred sauntered out of the shadows and quietly dragged Arthur back into the room that he had just been existing.

Closing the door quietly behind them Cenred walked over to the table pouring some mead into the cup left behind he didn't bother trying to remind Arthur of the previous warning he had given him, it was for in the morning.

In fact Cenred didn't even bother saying anything as a way of preamble before voicing his thoughts "You know the strange thing about the Griffin situation is that Merlynn had no business being there; I get why you recruited the other two knight with her but Merlynn? She has no skill in battle so why take her with you? Why not just leave her at that tavern, why take her to fight a magical creature? Though the oddest thing is the fact that _you_ killed the Griffin with _no magic. _After thousands of years and countless battles with Griffins you are the only person in history to have been able to defeat the creature _without magic"_

Cenred had only been in Camelot for a day and a half and he was about eighty percent sure that Merlynn had magic, plus he was almost certain that Arthur knew about Merlynn magic; the only problem with this is if he was wrong he would be telling the son of the most intolerant magic user around that his own maidservant was a witch.

"Obviously not every one is questioning what happened, but like I said before I pay close attention to details, and if someone was to think that these two peculiar events _were related_ in some way they would probably be telling you to do the right thing and send her away. _You_ can't protect her here, not by yourself and not while the laws of Camelot stand….

Arthur had stood quietly as Cenred spoke, he had nothing to say, no words to use to try and defend himself; the past week alone had been emotionally draining. After the dream that he had just had all he could muster up was dread, something was obviously seriously wrong with Merlynn, she must have gotten worse, if the dragon had taken to invading his dream again.

::x::

Breakfast was an unusual affair that morning in Camelot after catching Gwaine's eyes both Morgana and Gwaine started shoveling their food down their throat as if in some type of contest. Obviously Morgana wasn't behaving as barbaric as her counterpart but Uther still noticed the speed in which she swallowed her food.

Then there was Arthur who apparently couldn't decide on what emotion to feel on this articular morning, he ranged from guilt to annoyance, then from sadness to disinterest, most puzzling was the fact that he kept on shooting glances at King Cenred but it was not with the same level of anger as the last time, nor was the king looking smug this time just hopeful.

As soon as Morgana quickly made an excuse for not participating in the morning activity and walked through the crowd of existing royalties, dignitaries, knights, servants searching for Gwaine. She had no doubt that Uther would be having a word with her, but he would have to wait until the celebration was over, the man was hardly going to take his ward to task when so many people were around.

The task of locating Gwaine should have been easy in itself as there were only a limited amount of knights with the golden dragon embed into their red coat but since there seemed to be more than one arrogant bastard with a head wound from yesterday's match Morgana couldn't find him

Walking up to her room she vaguely noted that the guards were not station outside her room like usual but had moved down to the steps that lead to her room.

Gwaine stood outside her door waiting for her. "I was told that you might be looking for me. You are obviously concerned with what I do if you have Leon ordering me to come see you"

"This has nothing to do with you, is about Arthur and the way you attacked him"

"It was an unarmed combat, you know a fight, winner gets a bagful of gold coins, what did you think I was going to do hug him? Unless you are going to talk to every single person that managed to hit Arthur in the fight I don't understand why you are talking to me"

"_Hit Arthur_? _Hit_ Arthur. You tried to **_murder_** him yesterday." Morgana could feel her frustration rising and it didn't help that Gwaine was standing so close that she could literally slap him across the face and was forcing herself not to. "You were the only one on that field that has had a problem with my brother for the past two months"

"Then you _really_ haven't been paying attention _princess_, everyone is angry at Arthur, maybe not Leon but even he doesn't agree with the way the man has been acting lastly, he has just sent the last two months of his life making Merlynn's a living hell, she has been walking around like a living dead then when his highness decides that she is of some use she goes and gets hurt and HE WALKS AROUND TAL-" Morgana's hands slammed over Gwaine's mouth, surprising him, as she moved to push him to her room.

Was the man so angry that he had turned stupid? "The reason everyone has been meeting in secret is so that no one else knows about what's been going on but why bother when you are so determined to shout about it"

Gwaine was getting just as aggravated as Morgana by this conversation, maybe even more so. "Look I am not going to stand here and justify my actions to you, Merlynn has been sick for six days now and Arthur hasn't even gone to see her once instead he walk around stuck to the King and _laughing_ and _joking_ and **_lying_** about how he…" Gwaine stood there startled for a moment mostly due to the fact that he had nearly revealed Merlynn secret but a tiny, minuscule part of it because he had noticed that Morgana stood just a hair breath away. Taking a giant step back creating some distance he calmed down and decided to reassure her by telling the truth.

"Don't worry Morgana, I am not going to touch the princess again, I got everything out of my system yesterday… now if you will excuse me I need to go and see Merlynn, she's gotten worse" Gwaine said stalking out of the room.

:::

Gwen had no idea why she hadn't made her presence known earlier when they had entered the room to continue their argument instead she had chosen to stay hidden behind the screen.

All she could say was, she now understood what Lance said when he said that Gwaine and Morgana acted as if they should be seeing each other. If one was to look past their words of anger and frustration and focused solely on their body language they would assume to be looking at a couple at odds with each other.

:::x:::

Today had been one of the longest and most frustrating day of Arthur's life and it wasn't even noon, he had used every excuse available to try and get away from his father and take Merlynn to the dragon, short of standing up and walking off there was not much that he could do.

He needed to find a way fast; from what George had said Merlynn had gotten worse, a lot worse, so bad that Gaius hadn't even let the boy through the door, apart from Hunith everyone else had been kicked out of the physician's room.

His opportunity came when a servant had bumped into him aggravating his ribs, he had never been so glad to have a servant trip into him until this moment, it had given him the perfect opportunity to leave his father's side under the ruse of going to find Gaius.

Arthur day got that bit longer when he was saw Gwaine and Lancelot in what should have been an empty physician's room, save for Merlynn, someone was determined to make this one of the longest day of his life.

Gwaine stared at Arthur for a minute noting the way he looked at Merlynn before speaking "Are you here to visit our favorite little _witch_?" Gwaine asked innocently enjoying the look of surprise on Arthur's face. "Don't worry Princess I am not going to say or do anything."

"I- I" Arthur stood by the door with had no idea what to say; his brain had literally short-circuited all thoughts had left his mind.

"Arthur have a sit before you fall down" Gwaine said shoving a chair in his direction.

"How? How did you-"

"We were there remember" Lancelot stated watching as the colour slowly returned to Arthur. "How long have you know about Merlynn?"

"Since, since before the last hunting trip, about eight weeks or so"

"Why didn't you-" Gwaine sentence was cut off, the man was in no mood to listen to a series of questions and answers.

"Why are you here?" Lancelot inquired glaring at the prince

"She's dying"

"She's been dying since she got here but you've never visited her during the day time so why are you here"

"The, I... " Arthur sat still debating on whether to tell them the truth; they already knew about Merlynn and hadn't said anything plus he was going to need their help getting Merlynn downstairs, it had taken him half an hour to walk up three flights of steps there was no way he could get Merlynn to Kilgharrah without them.

More important Cenred had been right; he could protect Merlynn by himself, but he could with Gwaine and Lancelot helping him; both of them were more loyal to Merlynn than they were to Camelot.

Arthur lunched into the tale of how he first came to know about the dragon and how Kilgharrah had contacted him again last night ordering him to bring Merlynn downstairs.

"So you are telling us that there is a dragon… downstairs… in the basement… of this castle," Gwaine muttered not really expecting a response to his statement. He was feeling less shocked than he should have been; if his best friend could be a witch why _not_ have a dragon that could enter people's dream tied up in the basement of the castle.

Arthur had slowly moved to sit next to Merlynn, she looked so weak, so small in naked light of day if he had felt bad before he was now drowning in guilt "We need to get her downstairs"

"You need to go and see Hunith" Lancelot spoke grabbing onto Arthur's wrist preventing him from touching Merlynn.

"Merlynn needs to-"

"Merlynn needs _secrecy_, she doesn't need people asking why the prince was dragging her along to the basement of the castle in the middle of the celebration when she was sick, it's broad daylight for God sake." Lancelot said gesturing to the open window behind him that was letting the sunlight in.

"Lancelot there no-" Arthur words of protest were cut off when Lancelot's grip turned vice like.

"If you want to find a way to get rid of all the guilt you are feeling go and talk to Hunith, after all she's just spent the past week watching Merlynn fight to live." Lancelot could not keep the look of disgust from his face or voice; the fact that Arthur was trying to use Merlynn, whether he knew he was doing so or not, for his benefit sicken him.  
"Go and ask permission from Hunith to take Merlynn downstairs tonight, if she gives it to you then I will help you take Merlynn downstairs, if not then Gwaine and I will and you will stay away."

"I-"

"If the mother of the girl that you all but placed in a coma can forgive you then so can I." Lancelot continued freeing Arthur as he walking to open the door. "I don't expect you to explain yourself to me, nor am I going to beat you up but I do expect you to go ask Hunith for forgiveness… apart from Merlynn she is the person that you have hurt the most."

Arthur was undecided as to knowing if Lancelot was trying to help him or punish him but considering the fact he was more inclined to go with the latter; with how ill Merlynn was only an act of God could make Hunith leave Merlynn's side tonight.

:::

"Are you okay?" Gwaine asked hesitantly after Arthur had walked out. Most people naturally forgot that Lancelot was the one who dealt the harshest punishment. Sure Gwaine dealt out physical pain when angry but at least with Gwaine the person would be healed within a couple of weeks… Lancelot punishment struck an emotional blow to the person that lasted for a lot longer than a couple of weeks.

"I am fine Gwaine, is not like I am the one dying here"

"She's going to be okay. If she could survive living here for the last three years she can handle this" Gwaine said injecting some fake confidence into his voice.

:::x:::

Nimeuh stood at the top of the stairs that lead to the physician's room staring at the door. She had been too busy yesterday, excited about her little discovery, a witch her in Camelot, one that served the Pendragons directly; it was as if the God's were looking down on her and had decided to favour her.

She should have dealt with the issue yesterday like planned if she had she would not have been stopped the knights stationed out side the physician's door. It was times like these that Nimueh wished she could use her magic.

However there was nothing to worry about, the knights would soon move or the person will soon die; either way Niumeh should have her powers back by morning.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I have one or two more chapters to upload then I have to take a break; have three coursework due and I haven't started a single one; please tell me to stop writing and do my work if I keep uploading.


	16. No magic

Arthur had been unlucky in finding Hunith that afternoon but he had managed to get himself trapped when his father found him; forcing him to spend the rest of the afternoon with as he entertained his guest by watching the jousting tournament.

Meanwhile all Arthur could think about was that the closer it got to nightfall, the sicker Merlynn became and he hadn't talked to Hunith nor was he anywhere near Merlynn, even though Arthur knew that Gwaine and Lancelot will take Merlynn down to the dragon, even if Arthur wasn't there, they still had to wait until most of the servants had gone to sleep before attempting to move Merlynn.

By dinner time Arthur's anxiety had gotten to the point that Uther could barely tolerate the boy's anxious movements with his eyes darting to the doors every five seconds as if contemplating the merits of making a run for it and sharp retort he dealt out to anyone asking him a question, Uther was about ready to send the boy away; he didn't even pretend to try to be here.

Uther watched as Arthur's manservant, George, walked back into the hall to whisper something into his ears; Arthur had had his man servant running up and down all day on a special mission and each time the boy got back Arthur's distress level rose, this time was no exception.

Whatever message had just been delivered had sent Arthur over the edge; he had even made a move to stand up, but was stopped from moving by King Cenred.

"Please don't let me keep you here any longer than you want to be Arthur. You _obviously_ have some other place that you wish to be at" Uther sneered placing his fork back on his plate to scowl at his son.

It was apparent that Arthur hadn't even been listening to Uther dismissing him, as Cenred had had to whisper to him that Uther was allowing him to leave before Arthur stood up and discretely left the hall through one of the side entrances

::x::

Arthur burst through the physician's door to find Merlynn being manhandled by Gwaine and Lancelot who were trying to lift her of the bed at the same time.

"This is ridiculous you have a head injury, I am hardly going to trust you to carry her down four flights of stairs and a poorly lit passage way" Lancelot reasoned pulling Merlynn out of Gwaine's arms

Arthur stepped forward to be met with Lancelot's scowled, he obviously knew that Arthur hadn't talked to Hunith like _suggested _since this morning "I will talk to her later we need to get Merlynn downstairs now."

Lancelot ignored the comment and threw Merlynn over his shoulders strolling out of the door, it may not have been as late in the night as the hoped for what with it only being dinner time with guards and servants and royalties passing through every corridor of the castle but if they waited any longer Merlynn may not survive.

"Hurry up we need to get her down to the dungeon for some voodoo shit" Lancelot huffed out causing both Gwaine and Arthur to stumble over the smooth flat surface of the castle passageway.

As a matter of fact someone were to have come across them at that very moment they would have be more surprised at Lancelot swearing than the fact that two knights and the prince were carrying an unconscious girl around as if trying to kidnap her

:::

Arthur had never ben so grateful to have had such stick in the mud do-_exactly_- as- ordered servant as George than this very moment; the man had followed his instructions perfectly and so far the way to the dudgeon was clear, they weren't going to be encountering any knights or guards or even servants. George had managed to clear a direct path form Gaius' room to the dungeon, and if no one decided to make an unscheduled trip around the castle, they just might make it downstairs unnoticed.

::x::

Kilgarrah watched bemused as the three knights walked into his cave, especially since Gwaine had walked in looking like a walking casualty, almost every visible part of the man was bandaged, his hands was wrapped in so much gauze that it was hard to discern one finger from the other.

Of course all amusement was wiped of his face when Lancelot- gently- deposited Merlynn on the ground and _ordered_ him to save her. Kilgarrah would have lectured him on the foolishness of ordering a creature hundreds of years older with the power to kill him within second if Merlynn situation had not been so dire.

"Everyone else that isn't Merlynn needs to get out of this cave, I don't need you to be affected as well."

:::

Kilgarrah had removed the rest of Nimueh magic out of Merlynn, the girl had done well in getting rid of some but with Nimueh somewhere in the same castle her magic had grown stronger whilst Merlynn's had only weaken from combating the effect of a foreign magic and healing all the physical injuries that she had sustained.

Kilgharrah had decided to take certain _liberties_ with his time alone seeing as Merlynn was unconscious, he quickly placed a second spell on her before calling in the knights waiting outside.

::::

"I don't understand, why haven't you helped her until now?" Arthur asked more annoyed than puzzled after walking back in with the others. Merlynn could have been healed since day one and this giant fire-breathing lizard had waited until now to do anything to help her.

"You may think me to be all powerful but even I can't move Merlynn from where she was without raising a few eyebrows, the reaction alone would just caused more harm than good, people will assume that it was magic and I _am_ trying to distance that idea away from Merlynn. Plus if you had actually bothered to sleep properly instead of the half an hour naps you kept doing at different times of the day I _could_ have had you bring her down her sooner."

Kilgarrah huffed looking down at the young prince. "I can only contact people through their dreams if they have remnants of magic in them and although there were a few choices to choose from talking to you would have been the easiest and safest for Merlynn"

It wasn't like Kilgarrah could instruct Gwen on what to do, not when she was not to be trusted, nor was he going you invade another person dreams making them aware that not only did Merlynn have magic but there was a dragon in Camelot.

And unfortunately for them all neither Hunith, Lancelot or Gwaine had magic and Gaius had gotten the same amount of sleep that Arthur had, so he couldn't be contacted either.

:::x:::

Just before falling asleep later that night, Gwaine was slammed with the realisation that Arthur had magic himself, or at least part of it... the dragon- Kilgharrah had said that he could only contact people through their dreams if they had magic so that meant that Arthur had magic… right?

Except that they was no way Arthur could have practiced magic; his life had been monitored since the moment he was born. Gwaine doubted that Arthur could have gone a day without being followed or monitored… so that left the question of _how_ _and_ _why_ the Crown prince had magic if he never learnt

::x::

George cautiously walked into the king's bedchamber more than a little scared of what the king wanted.

"What message had my son been sending you out to bring to him all day long?" Uther questioned trying to keep the boy off balance, if the knights had done what he requested the servant should be more than a little apprehensive.

George could tell the truth and inform the king that his son had him running around all day either giving him report on the whereabouts of the physician assistant (usually found at Merlynn's side these past few days ) and giving him reports on Merlynn progress. The truth was that telling the king the truth semed like a really bad idea at the moment.

He could lie except he had no reason to lie… apart from the fact that if he told the truth the king would surely kill Merlynn, not that the girl wasn't already dying, or at the very least he would banish her from Camelot.  
The problem was that Arthur had not even _tried_ to conceal his emotions today and if the king was to find out that his son all but run out in the middle of dinner for a serving girl…

Before the Griffin incident George would not have even **_thought_** about _lying to the king _but he had seen what Merlynn's injuries did to Arthur, each morning after coming back from visiting her, the haunted look in his eyes would grown that much bigger than before.

"I was sent to find the physician assistant… Arthur wanted to know if ... if thepotionheneededforhispainwasready" George finished in a rush.

"Excuse me?" Uther asked incredulously confused by the jumble of words that spewed out of the servant's mouth.

"The Prince wanted to know if the potion he needed for his pain was ready, it takes a while to brew… and the pain was getting worse throughout the day, Your Highness" George said nearly choking on his words. As a matter of fact he wish he could choke on his words, it will probably be less painful than what would happen if Uther found out that he had just lied to him, TWICE.

_ Meanwhile at the another side of the castle_:

Merlynn is recovering laid upstairs finally able to breathe without struggling to draw breath.

Nimeuh slowly walked into the physician's room, she had arrived earlier to see two men existing the room, and they were probably the guards that were stationed outside earlier.

Walking over to the far side of the room Niumeh looked down at the brown haired girl sleeping quietly something that baffled Niumeh. The girl didn't look like been battling with a magical attack for the past seven days.

In fact Niumeh couldn't sense _any_ trace of her magic on this girl, but she was had been convinced that this was the room her magic had been in… it _had_ been calling to her even before she had arrived in Camelot, it _had_ lead her straight to this room.

Not only was there no trace of _her_ magic on the girl, there was no trace of _any_ magic near the girl. The girl didn't even posses an ounce of magic let alone what was needed to fight a Griffin and battle her magic.


End file.
